Image via WikipediaSAN DIEGO -- Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers is motivated to win another NBA championship because he plans to auction his ring from last season's title to raise money for mental health counseling in schools.
"I'm still searching for that first ring. I'm not going to have a ring, and I really do want a ring," Artest said during a visit to San Diego to promote an exhibition game against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21. "This one was on the house. The next one, I guess, you could say, is on me."
During an interview after the Lakers clinched the title with a Game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics in June, Artest thanked his psychiatrist for helping him relax during the playoffs. He said he received counseling for a few months when he was 13, but that funding for the program dried up.
"When I grew up, mental health was something that wasn't talked about. People were scared to say they were seeing a psychologist and stuff like that. Even before the championship I was telling people I was seeing a psychiatrist. When we won the championship, it was on a much more larger scale -- 'Wow, he really said that.'"
Artest, who's trying to put his bad-boy image behind him, said he could simply display his ring in his living room or he could wear it.
"But I think it'll be more important to give back to something I believe in, which is providing kids with someone to talk to because it's so expensive. I pay for parenting counseling, marriage counseling and anger management, and it's very expensive. This will be for children of all demographics, rich or poor -- preferably the rich can pay for their own psychologists -- but it'll be a great way to help kids who don't know where they're going in their life at this point."
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