"Conceding that the British Basketball League's Cheshire Jets don't have the financial resources to sign Lakers forward Ron Artest, Jets director Peter Hawkins told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the team will try to land Artest unspecified music and television roles.

"You'll appreciate that we haven't got the means to entice someone of Ron's standing on financial grounds," Hawkins said in the report, adding that one possibility for Artest might entail starring in a British soap opera. "Our commitment is to help raise Ron's profile in the UK in order to help him develop his music and movie career over here while playing basketball."

Artest's publicist, Courtney Barnes, couldn't be reached for comment, but he told The Times on Tuesday night that Artest plans to go to the United Kingdom Aug. 18-23 to speak with Jets officials about possibly playing for them during the NBA lockout.

On Tuesday afternoon, Artest suggested his plans to play with the Jets on Twitter. He posted a picture of Jets center Matt Schneck holding a jersey that referenced his proposed name change to Metta World Peace. He also tweeted the following message: "Go Jets!!!!! Uk , here we come!!! Jets are the best!!! Jets are the best!!! New chant!!!!!!!!!""