The NBA champion since our days playing each other in college. He was vilified throughout his career but I always saw a man trying to do his best
In 2013 I was part of a trip put on by the NBA Players Association to Africa. Among my fellow players on the tour was Metta Sandiford-Artest, then known as Metta World Peace. It was nearly a decade removed from The Malice At The Palace, when players and fans had fought at a game between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. The NBA came down heavily on Metta, who was suspended for 86 games and fined $5m for his part in the incident.
On the trip, Metta and I talked a lot. We reminisced about our days in college, when my Syracuse team and his St John’s team battled on court. Metta was the same player in college as he was in the NBA: fiery and passionate. I asked him about an incident that stayed in my memory. When we beat St John’s in the dying seconds at Madison Square Garden, Metta approached one of the refs about a missed call. The ref shrugged him off and said something to the effect of: “The game is over, shut up and go home.”
Related: Malice at the Palace: how a new doc re-examines the epochal NBA brawl