Another royal pain?

The on-again, off-again trade of Ron Artest for Peja Stojakovic was finally completed Wednesday, and despite the discomfort and indecision for both the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings, I believe it is a trade that makes sense for each team.

The Pacers, coming off a 66-point effort Tuesday against Cleveland, are in desperate need of scoring. This has been a defensive-minded club for years, but without Artest in the lineup, the Pacers really lacked a scoring threat from both the perimeter and inside. Stojakovic will give Indiana one of the best shooters in the league.

Even though he's been injury prone this season and his scoring average has suffered, Stojakovic is just 28 years old. With good health, he should have plenty of good basketball left in him. Since he is a free agent this summer (he will opt out of his current deal), the Pacers now have a chance to evaluate him and decide whether or not to re-sign him. If they choose not to do so, Indiana will have his salary off the books – a crucial move for a team trying to get back under the luxury-cap threshold.

Perhaps more importantly for the Pacers, they can now move on and put the Artest saga in the past. After two years of drama, Indiana fans will welcome the calm.

In the meantime, Stojakovic will immediately help a team in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. With Jermaine O'Neal out indefinitely with a groin injury, Peja will provide instant scoring for a team that needs it badly. It will be a difficult adjustment for him, though, going from a free-wheeling, jump-shooting offense to a more defensive-minded, grind-it-out club like the Pacers.

For Sacramento, Artest arrives with three years remaining on a very manageable contract, and he gives the Kings something they haven't had for a long time: a defensive stopper. If – and that's a big if – Artest comes to play without any distractions, he'll make this club better. He brings defense, toughness and a natural scorer's mentality, and if Sacramento can get healthy, they'll have a chance to make a run for one of the West's final playoff spots.

More importantly, the Kings now are off the hook trying to re-sign Stojakovic, a worrisome thought given his health. Instead, they have Artest on the books for three seasons. Given the fact that Sacramento is struggling, I think this is a gamble well worth taking.

• Steve Francis was recently reinstated by the Orlando Magic after his three-game suspension for failing to enter a game in Seattle when coach Brian Hill requested him to do so. The Magic have won four games in a row since the suspension was lifted, and Francis – to his credit – publicly apologized for the incident.

But the issue raises a question that has bothered me for years. Why is it considered an insult for a coach to ask a "star" player to enter a lopsided game in the last few minutes? Francis was asked by Hill to enter a contest with his team down 15 points and three minutes remaining. A teammate had just fouled out. Francis apparently took this personally and refused to get off the bench.

There is an unwritten rule in the league that a coach will usually ask a veteran player if he wants to play the final minutes of a blowout. It is a courtesy afforded to players who have established themselves in the league. Young players are not given the option – they're just sent in. Perhaps Hill should have offered Francis the option, but with a teammate fouled out, it certainly seemed reasonable for him to expect Francis to enter the game.

Regardless, there's no reason why players should feel insulted in these situations. There are millions of people in this world who would die to play one minute of an NBA game. It is an honor to play in the NBA, and all players should respect the game and their coach by simply doing what's requested of them. If a coach asks you to go into a blowout game, swallow your pride, show some class and play hard. There's no need for drama.

The bigger issue for Orlando is what to do with Francis and the remaining three years of his contract. With second-year man Jameer Nelson playing so well – he was averaging 23.0 points and 7.4 assists in his last 10 games before spraining his foot – Francis is expendable.

Hill isn't thrilled with Francis' over-dribbling, not to mention his attitude, and the Magic would love to unload him. But he's due more than $40 million over the rest of his contract, and it will be very difficult to find another team willing to take him. For a young team that is trying to build a foundation around young phenom Dwight Howard, the last thing Orlando needs is a disgruntled point guard who over-handles the ball. Stay tuned.

• The more I think about the Antonio Davis case, the more blame I think he deserves.

After watching the replay of the incident a dozen times, I was struck by how uninterested the fans in the section were by the entire event. Other than Davis' wife, nobody was even standing up. Most people were lounging in their chairs, chatting with friends and wondering what a player was doing in the stands. There was obviously not a fight going on – it was a simple argument.

Therefore, the opinion that Davis had the right to "protect his wife" goes out the window. Protect her from what? A verbal exchange? The New York Knicks forward/center should have walked over to the nearest security guard, pointed out the situation and asked that it be taken care of. By entering the stands, he put himself and the fans in danger. Oh, and by the way, shouldn't he have been concentrating on the game?

• The Cleveland Cavaliers finally snapped their six-game losing streak with a win in Utah, but their struggles out West exposed the youth of the team – and of LeBron James in particular.

In losses to the Lakers, Portland and Denver, James either missed or passed up several game-winning shot opportunities, and he misfired on several key free throws. What was disconcerting to Cavaliers fans was not missing big shots – even Kobe Bryant does that – but his reaction. James looked distraught over the thought of letting his teammates down, hanging his head and flailing his arms in disgust each time.

I believe the same quality that makes James such a great team player – his conscientiousness – hurts him down the stretch. Players like Kobe, Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan never thought twice about missing a shot or letting their teams down. They knew they'd make and miss their share of big ones. But when they did miss, they never showed any negative body language that could be perceived as weakness. They held their heads high and defiantly walked off the floor.

I asked Miller about this last week. "Missing a big one never bothered me," Reggie said. "I always knew I'd get another chance."

LeBron needs to develop the same attitude. You can't make every clutch shot, but you have to be confident that you're going to do so. Late-game confidence – no, arrogance – is perhaps the only thing missing from his amazing game.