Basketball: Indiana Pacers trade Artest

The Indiana Pacers traded disgruntled forward Ron Artest to the Sacramento Kings for three-time all star Peja Stojakovic, the Pacers announced yesterday.

The 2.08m Stojakovic, of Serbia and Montenegro, was averaging 16.5 points per game in 31 games for Sacramento this season.

Artest was placed on the inactive list by the Pacers in December and subsequently fined US$10,000 ($14,832) by the league for publicly requesting a trade.