Though his contract doesn’t expire with the Los Angeles Lakers until 2014, Ron Artest will try out to play in the NFL after he retires from the NBA.
Artest told CBSsport.com that he does not plan on resigning with the Lakers or with any other NBA team once his current contract runs out in 2014. Artest will be 35-years old and has plans to try out for an NFL team:
“God willing, after my NBA career, God willing I’m still athletic enough – which I’m trying to take care of my body as best as possible and be prepared for this day, for this tryout of an NFL team… It’s a fantasy of mine. It’s an opportunity because I’m athletic. So if that fantasy can be fulfilled, and if it’s something that can really be reached as far as a goal, I’m going for it.”
While Artest plans to continue in the athletic field after the NBA, other basketball veteran Ben Wallace wants to go to law school. The Detroit Pistons center told Yahoo Sports, “That’s my ultimate goal. It’s always been one of my dreams. I think I can argue a pretty good case. I think I can convince a couple of people to see things my way.”
Wallace has played 15 seasons in the NBA and just signed a two-year contract with Detroit worth $4.3 million. “I know my time is limited as far as being a player,” Wallace said. “That’s something I’ve already accepted and come to peace with.”
Both Artest and Wallace have won an NBA Championship. Wallace in 2004 with the Pistons and Artest this past summer with the Lakers.
Ironically, these two players who are both taking different paths post-NBA were at the center of one of the NBA’s biggest controversies, the 2004 Menace at the Palace.
