Metta Sandiford-Artest

1979-11-13 · Queens, New York, USA

Metta Sandiford-Artest (born Ronald William Artest Jr.; November 13, 1979), previously legally named Metta World Peace, is an American former professional basketball player who played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Under the name Ron Artest, he played college basketball for the St. John's Red Storm. He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1999 NBA draft. In 2001, he signed with the Indiana Pacers, where he won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and was also named an NBA All-Star in 2004. Later that year, he was involved in an on-court altercation between the Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, and was suspended for the remainder of the 2004–05 season. Weeks after the start of the 2005–06 season, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings, and spent the 2008–09 season with the Houston Rockets. In 2009, he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, and helped the team win their NBA championship in 2010. In 2011, he legally changed his name to Metta World Peace, and continued to play with the Lakers until 2013, where he signed with the New York Knicks. After a year of hiatus from the NBA, he returned to the Lakers for his last season in 2015 before retiring the following year. On May 4, 2020, he announced that he had changed his name once again to Metta Sandiford-Artest, combining his last name with that of his second wife, Maya Sandiford. ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.