Metta World Peace is known for his eccentric personality, but his recent basketball takes have many confused. Previously known as Ron Artest, the NBA champion recently took to Twitter to let everyone know that when it comes to the greatest of all time, he has LeBron leading the pack. Tweeting about the same, Artest said,
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“Once king James retires , I think I’m cementing him as the number 1 player of all time. His body of work is like Mozart’s. I like Mozart over Beethoven because Mozart’s music is more street at times. Respectfully.”
Though it’s not clear who Artest was eluding to when he talked about Beethoven, his take on LeBron being the Mozart of basketball is interesting, to say the least. But in a strange turn of events, Artest again took to Twitter, this time providing his top 5 players in the NBA. Giving out his top, Artest tweeted,
“My new top 5 1. Stephen Curry 2. MJ 3. Bron 4. Wilt 5. Kobe.”
The hilarious thing about Artest’s take is that it was only a few hours before that he had declared LeBron as the greatest. But after his new list, the King was only placed in 3rd place, behind Michael Jordan and Stephen Curry. Though Curry definitely has the potential to make the GOAT conversation, taking the Chef over LeBron is a drastic departure from Atests’s earlier stand.
Metta backtracks once again
Is it LeBron or is it Michael? Well, according to Metta, it’s Tim Duncan. After declaring LeBron as the GOAT, Metta has been caught backtracking once again. This time around, Tim Duncan is Artest’s pick to be the greatest. Tweeting about the same, Artest said,
” New list. The greatest NBA player of all time is Tim Duncan. Make an argument why not.”
Now, Tim Duncan is definitely a top 10 player. He spearheaded the Spurs dynasty, as Duncan won five championships with Greg Popovich. What’s even more impressive is that Duncan managed to win in different eras, as he won Championships in the 90’s, 2000’s and the 2010’s. The Spurs wouldn’t have achieved any of this without Duncan, and that’s what makes him possibly one of the greatest if not the greatest power forward the game has ever seen.
But this isn’t the first time that Artest has had a take on the GOAT debate. Artest, during a 2021 interview, declared that Bill Russell was the greatest of all time. Like many other people before him, Artest made the argument that Bill Russell, who won 11 Championships with the Celtics, is the greatest. Explaining his stance, Metta said
“I think Bill Russell is (the GOAT), honestly. Bill Russell got 11 championships. I look at Michael as one of the greatest. But I think Bill Russell is the greatest. When you can win in your era. That’s what it’s about—winning in your era. And nobody dominated like that. Not even Michael Jordan.”
Even though Metta isn’t completely off with his analysis, it’s important to note that the 60s and 70s weren’t when basketball was at its finest. Not only did players often hold second jobs, but the skill level wasn’t where it is today. Thus, even though Bill did dominate against the top players back then, right now, the story is just different.
