Despite having an unconventional career, Metta World Peace achieved a lot of things that many players have only dreamed of.
Metta Sandiford-Artest did not have an ideal NBA career.
He was drafted in 1999 by the Chicago Bulls –a year after Michael Jordan retired- but didn’t get any recognition until he was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2001.
There, he was on track to have a Hall of Fame career.
A year and a half after joining the team, then still Ron Artest, became an All-Star for the first time.
But that wasn’t all that he achieved in 2003-04.
He was also the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, an All-Defensive player, and an All-NBA player. And he was on track to do even better the following season.
In the first seven games of the 2004-05 season, Artest was averaging 24.6 points on 50 percent shooting, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game.
The Pacers were rolling and Artest was playing like a superstar. It really seemed like Indiana had a chance to take the entire season and win the championship title.
But then Malice in the Palace happened.
Their chemistry was off and Artest was traded to the Sacramento Kings after competing for 16 games with the Pacers in 2005-06.
Prior to the trade, he said in an interview that it would be a good thing for the team if he left.
Via ESPN:
“I think I cause a lot of problems here.”
“I still think my past haunts me here,” Artest told the Star. “I think somewhere else I’m starting fresh. I’m coming in with baggage but people already know about it and how I’m going to be. Either they’re going to be for me or they’re not going to trade for me. Here I think my past haunts me.
“I think [Indiana] will be a better team without me.”
Ron Artest Leaves the Pacers, Joins the Kings
He played 3 seasons with the Northern California team but he didn’t make much noise.
Artest made the All-Defensive First Team for the second time in his career and led the Kings to the post-season in 2006. But that’s about all that was accomplished during his time there.
Feeling that this roster wasn’t working, the Kings’ brass decided to trade away key players -Artest being one of them- and rebuild.
Artest Links Up With Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in Houston
In 2008, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he played for one season.
There, he reconnected with Rick Adelman (his head coach in Sacramento) and linked up with Trace McGrady and Yao Ming.
The trio played well together (when they played together).
Houston won 53 games and was the fifth seed in the Western Conference, despite McGrady getting injured early in the season and only playing 35 games.
In the playoffs, it was all Artest and Yao, who led the team to the semi-finals, where they gave the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, work.
They took Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to Game 7 but lost decisively in this win-or-go-home game. The Lakers blew them out 89-70.
After the loss, Artest had some decisions to make.
He was about to turn 30 years old later this year and had to decide what his legacy was going to be.
Having already won many individual awards, he decided that he wanted to win a title (or at least try his hand at getting a ring).
So, much like what Michael Finley did, Artest joined the team that broke his heart -the Lakers.
Ron Artest Joins the Lakers
He signed a 5-year deal with them and joined Kobe in his quest to be the greatest of all time.
Via Reuters:
“This has been a long time coming,” Artest, 29, said after being introduced to the media at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo.
“I have great respect for him and I always wanted to be a teammate of his. When I was on other teams, the liking for Kobe went out the door. I always wanted to compete and try to win the games.
“But for the last couple of years, at the back of my mind, I really wanted to be here.”
Ron Artest Gets His Ring
In 2009-10, Artest played 71 games with the Lakers and became their designated 3&D guy.
He didn’t win any individual accolades this season, but he did help the Lakers win a championship –and helped Kobe get revenge- against the Boston Celtics and got himself a ring.
The following season, the Lakers were set to defend their title. They won 57 games in the regular season, tied for second in the conference.
But they were swept by the Dallas Mavericks (the season’s champs) in the semi-finals.
Despite failing to defend his ring, Artest did win the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, an award that honours players and coaches who show “outstanding service and dedication to the community.”
Feeling proud, Artest wanted to take a step further in spreading positivity and changed his name to Metta World Peace.
He wanted to shed the image that the public and media had created for him after his incident in Detroit a few years back.
World Peace stuck with the Lakers until the final year of his contract when he was waived via the amnesty clause.
The team wasn’t playing well and had to cut costs to rebuild.
In 2013-14, World Peace signed a two-year deal with the New York Knicks but was waived after 29 games.
He spent the following season in China and then came back to the states, where he re-joined the Lakers –more as a player-coach than a player- for two seasons before retiring.
Conclusion
By the end of his career, World Peace accomplished what many players have only dreamed of –winning a title, winning DPOY, and being added to multiple All-Defensive and All-NBA teams.
He is one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history, despite having an unorthodox career.
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