My guess is that right now Petrie is working hard on not only trading Artest, but also getting KT's contract to go away in the same deal. But I doubt he'll find anybody willing to take on KT's money in exchange for a stretch run of Artest followed by Ron opting out. However, I think there are teams out there willing to part with some sort of value in order to get Artest, and once Petrie realizes that he won't be able to use Ron to get rid of KT, he'll pull the trigger on another deal rather than let Ron walk for nothing.
The destination that makes most sense to me is Denver, with Najera and a first rounder being the main part of the package coming back. Whether Kleiza is included will probably depend on how loud Carmelo is about wanting Artest. If we do get Kleiza, I think we should try to flip him to the East for a future draft pick, since he doesn't really provide us with what we need.
But with or without Kleiza, my best guess is that Artest will be a Nugget at the deadline.