l read in a few sources and it said that Artest is coming to the Lakers and Ariza is being traded to the Rockets for him.

l just could not believe it. Ariza was part of the winning 5... And Artest, l hated his guts. He played dirty against the Lakers.. and now this? This is a real shocker...

Someone... Please tell me that Ariza is staying... tell me that this is all a rumor and that Artest is staying out of my city of Los Angeles...

Im sorry but its true

Supposedly, artest said he has a verbal agreement with the lakers. As does ariza with the rockets.

They both have verbal agreements with those respective teams.

This could really hurt the Lakers on offense.

Yeah but dont get sore about it he will make us better. Ariza let it all get to his head and he is making a dumb decision. He never played dirty.

Its true. Artest is 5x better than Ariza. He will be playing with Kobe and Pau he will light it up. He has just as good offense as Ariza and just as nice a shot plus he can run with anyone on D. l am not a Laker fan but id be damn happy.

What up VII,

Both players r free agents. Yesterday the Lakers offered Ariza the mid-level exception ($5.6 million/yr) but Ariza called this offer a ''slap in the face'' & him & his agent threatened to leave the Lakers.

Artest became available & he is willing to sign for $6/million yr so he is signing a 3 yr/$18 million deal with the Lakers.

Ariza has decided to go to Houston & he is signing a 5yr/$33.5 million dollar deal with Houston.

Artest- is a rough & sometimes dirty player- but he gives the Lakers all the things that Ariza did (defense/ the ability to hit the open three) plus a little bit of an attitude & toughness which they have lacked these last two seasons.

For the Lakers to re-sign Ariza they would have had to offer him - $7 million/yr which would have threatened their position to re-sign Lamar Odom. Overall they got the better end of the deal- even though l know that Trevor is a lot more likeable than Artest.

Nickster

Ariza is a Rocket baby!!!! Whoo!!! Forget Artest. That trader. When they come out, l am gonna get me a Trevor Ariza jersey. #3 Trevor ''The Cobra'' Ariza.

#1 Rockets Fan

Remember, the Lakers have been trying to acquire Artest since last season. Artest already signed and is officially a Laker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_artest

well ariza isnt getting traded. And artest is coming cuz arizas agent was demanded more money than ariza should b given

It is not a trade. they r free agent (FA) signings, they just happen to be Artest becoming a FA from Houston going to LA & Ariza being a FA from LA goin to Houston. it is practially a trade, but not quite. unless if they do a sign-and-trade kinda thing, but l have not heard that. if this makes u feel any better nothing can be finalized until July 8th when FA can sign their contracts. July 1st is only when teams can start negotiating with FAs. so a lot can happen between now & then. but if nothing does, both players have agreed in principle that they will sign with their new teams on July 8th. l too was pretty surprised to hear about this. even after l heard that Ariza rejected the Lakers first offer of 5.6 million per year for 3 years, l still had no doubt that Ariza was going to come back, but now it looks like he is gone.

there is nothing any of us Laker fans can do about it, except hope that something comes up between now & the 8th, which is highly unlikely. We all liked Ariza, i'm not sure what u particularly liked about him, but we all liked him. but now that we have Artest, l think we will learn to like him too, especially if he does well.

If u r concerned with Artest getting in trouble, l do not think that will be a problem. Artest behaved well enough to be liked in Houston, pretty much as much as we liked Ariza here. it was always said that Artest needed a coach that he could respect & Rick Adelman was that coach & l have no doubt that Artest respects Phil Jackson too. besides Jackson was able to deal with Dennis Rodman.

if u r worried about the teams chemistry, l do not think that is a problem either. like l said before about Phil Jackson, Artest also probably resects Kobe & he played basketball with Lamar Odom way back (chances r that Odom will be back since Ariza is gone). Also, Artest is getting pretty old in basketball years. he knows that if he can not win with the Lakers, then he probaby wo not even win one. so l think he will get along fine enough with everyone, especially if they r winning. Artest neer really was on an elite team like the Lakers so l do not think he will do anything to screw up his time here.

finally, u can look at it this way. sure he did play dirty against the Lakers, but the Lakers sometimes played dirty too, but that is not my point. Artest is one of if not the best one-on-one defenders in the league & when his team played against the Lakers it was his job to stop Kobe & he did a decent job at it too. Kobe no longer has to worry about Artest defending him in games

Even though Artest & Kobe might not seem like they get along, l think their relationship is a little better than what we see during the games. http://cbs2.com/sports/ron.artest.lakers.2.1069858.html. check out the 3rd paragraph & the quote right after. l wish Ariza the best of luck in Houston, but l am also excited to see what Artest can do for the Lakers

l am a BIG AZZ Laker fan & yes!!!! : ( Ariza is leaving!!! : (

And l HATE Artest! But that might be just becuz he had beef with Kobe in PlayOffs but whatever! l hate him!

Ariza is leaving a team that JUST WON A CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! He is crazy! And l love Ariza! He is gonna regret leaving when we win another Championships!

Im happy to see some people (you) r mad like me about this trade!

*Check out some of my questions*

♥LakerGirl♥

It sound is crazy .....
But it is true.

Sorry dude.