Watch what you wish for – you just might get it.

Ask Peja Stojakovic. Nearly two years ago, the sharp-shooting forward said he was hoping the Kings would trade him because he felt he’d done all he could in Sacramento. But in more recent times – like, say, Tuesday – he told the papers that he wanted to finish his career in Sacramento.

Unfortunately, that won’t happen, because Stojakovic’s original wish was granted Wednesday when the Kings traded him to Indiana for Ron Artest. While most of the attention has been focused on how the Pacers finally un loaded their talented but combustible star, for me this deal signifies something far different – the final piece in the breakup of the Kings.

From 1999 to 2004, Sacramento was the most entertaining team in basketball. For much of that time, they were also the best. With Chris Webber skillfully picking apart opposing big men, Stojakovic and Mike Bibby drilling jumpers from all over the court, and Vlade Divac cleverly orchestrating the whole affair from the high post, stopping the Kings was nearly impossible. But beneath that veneer of showmanship was also an outstanding basketball team at both ends of the floor, thanks in part to the defense and toughness of role players like Doug Christie, Bobby Jackson, and Scot Pollard.

Those Kings could just as have easily won three championships, but they ended up not winning any. In 2002 they repeatedly had the Lakers on the ropes in the Western Conference finals, but couldn’t hang onto a huge lead in Game 4, couldn’t get a whistle in Game 6, and couldn’t make a clutch shot in Game 7. A year later they again entered the playoffs as the league’s best team, only to see Webber tear up his knee in the second round of the playoffs. And in 2004, they raced out to the league’s best record even without Webber, only to self-destruct once he returned.

Taking the three-year period as a whole, you can argue that this was the best team in history to never even make an NBA Finals. And with this deal, it’s undoubtedly, irrevocably over. In the last 18 months, Webber, Stojakovic, Divac, Christie, and Jackson have all relocated, leaving Bibby as the lone keeper of the flame from those dynamite teams.

Yet in the final death throes of the Kings empire, there could also be a rebirth. Up until yesterday, it appeared Sacramento wasn’t going anywhere this year.The Kings stood at 18-24 after Wednesday night’s win over the Knicks. The roster was aging and soft, the team had salary cap issues for the foreseeable future, and coach Rick Adelman was a lame duck. At a stroke, all of that has changed.

To understand why Sacramento pulled the trigger on the wildest of wild cards, you first have to realize that they were headed down the road to nowhere – too old to rebuild but too talentless to make a run for a ring, they essentially were a less overpaid version of last year’s Knicks. But now they have a real chance at getting into the playoffs, and with a favorable matchup, they could even win a round once they get there.

Stojakovic may be one of the greatest shooters the NBA has ever seen (in this, an “off year,” he’s shooting 93% from the line), but in the past two years he’s slipped badly. A series of injuries has thrown his deadly stroke off kilter, as he’s hitting just 40.4% from the field, and defensively he’s gone from mediocre to worthless.

Replacing him with Artest is a gamble, but it’s tough to underestimate how much Artest adds to this club in his moments of lucidity. The Kings were a terrible defensive team, and terrible in the two ways that Artest can help the most – they weren’t physical, and they didn’t have a good wing defender. Now they have one of the league’s best defenders on their side, and as an added plus, he’ll get them 20 points every night.

As a result, the Kings look very tough in a thinned-out Western field.A lineup of Bibby, Bonzi Wells (due back in a week or so), Artest, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Brad Miller should be able to fill the nets, and with Artest around they can defend enough to outscore teams on most nights.

Yes, any mixture involving Artest is combustible, and I wrote two days ago that the Kings would be better off passing on this one. But it turns out most of the opposition to a trade with Sacramento was coming from Artest’s out-ofhis-league agent, rather than Artest himself. That changes things – the Kings have to contend with Artest every day, but they won’t have to deal with this boob of an agent for two and a half more years.

Despite that, there’s a very good chance it could blow up in Sacramento’s face. But here’s the key to the deal from Sacramento’s perspective: They had nothing to lose. That’s why they were one of the few teams to stay in the running for Artest in the first place. In the end, this deal is a testament to how much the league’s other 29 teams feared Artest’s destructive capabilities in the clubhouse – all Indiana could get for him was a declining former star who will be a free agent after the season.

This came despite Indiana’s impressive patience in waiting for the best offer, hoping that bidders would become increasingly desperate, and up the ante. Instead, Indiana’s patience may have been perceived as a sign of weakness rather than one of strength – while the Pacers publicly expressed optimism that the offers were improving, there’s no evidence that actually happened. Indeed, the possibly of an Artest-for-Peja swap came up almost immediately when Indiana said they would deal Artest, but the Pacers reportedly wanted younger players and perhaps some cap relief.

Instead, they have to settle for the final destructive act of Ron the Rotweiler’s tenure in Indiana. Not only did he crush the Pacers’ title hopes by charging into the stands last year, he did it again this year by so greatly diminishing his own trade value.

However, when we look back on this trade, we may not remember it for what it did to the Pacers. What we’ll remember is that it represented two milestones for the Kings – the final act in the demolition of their great team of the past half-decade, and, in the odd event that Artest behaves himself, the resurrection of that same team for the next few seasons.

Mr. Hollinger is the author of the 2005-06 Pro Basketball Forecast. He can be reached at jhollinger@nysun.com.