Artest and Ariza trade NBA teams, Wallace to Boston

Volatile forward Ron Artest and rising star Trevor Ariza traded teams and Shannon Brown signed on for another year with the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers officially welcomed Artest from Houston but lost Ariza to the same Rockets as the league's moratorium on signing free agents ended Wednesday.

In the another big move Wednesday, forward Rasheed Wallace agreed to a contract with the Boston Celtics.

Artest helped the Houston Rockets get to the quarter-finals of the playoffs last season for the first time since 1996-97.

The 29-year-old averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 69 regular season contests with the Rockets.

In his 10-year career, Artest has game averages of 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists with Chicago, Indiana, Sacramento and Houston.

He has also established himself as one of top defenders in the league, capturing the 2004 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.

Artest is infamously known for being suspended a record 73-games for exchanging punches with fans in Detroit in 2004. It was the longest suspension ever handed out for a fight during an NBA game.

The Lakers also brought back a role player from their 2008-09 championship squad, signing guard Brown.

Brown averaged 3.2 points while playing just over 7 1/2 minutes in 18 regular season games for LA after coming over in a mid-season trade from Charlotte.

Houston officially signed Ariza, who was a key part of Los Angeles' championship run this season.

"Trevor is a young, athletic wing player who will thrive in Rick Adelman's system," said Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. "Each year in the league Trevor has improved. What he has accomplished at a young age is already impressive and we expect his improvement to continue."

Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the five-year contract is reportedly worth 33 million dollars.

In other signings, the Detroit Pistons inked guard Ben Gordon and forward Charlie Villanueva to multi-year contracts and four-time all star Wallace agreed to a two-year deal with the Celtics. He helped Detroit win the NBA championship in 2004.