Ron Artest who now goes by Metta Sandiford Artest did not beat up the wrong man during Malice at the Palace.
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Malice at the Palace is not only one of the darkest stains in NBA history it also proved to be a career-changing night for the main man involved in it.
Ron Artest might be famous for changing his name a couple of times as well as for his dagger 3-point shot in the 2010 NBA Finals which won the Los Angeles Lakers their 16th and Kobe Bryant, his 5th championship.
However, most of us remember him for the night when his Pacers were taking on the Detroit Pistons in a regular season game and a scene broke out which would change his career forever.
But there were some details, which according to Metta himself, are in the records quite differently than the actual event itself.
Metta Sandiford Artest beat the man who bet $50 to John Green for throwing his drink at him
During the incident, Artest was in the middle of a brawl with Ben Wallace when some fan, later identified as John Green, from the crowd threw a drink at him. In retaliation, Ron went to the stands and grabbed some other guy named Michael Ryan.
Hell broke loose after that and players and fans were onto each other within seconds. Artest served the suspension for the rest of the season (86 games, including 13 Playoff matches), which is the longest one by the NBA to date, and lost close to $5 million in salary.
But since then it was believed that in the heat of the moment, Artest had beaten the wrong man. It wasn’t the case if the man himself is to be believed.
On his recent appearance on Byron Scott’s podcast, the former Pacers man cleared some things up in front of the former Lakers player and head coach.
How Malice at the Palace changed careers, one in particular
League suspended 9 players for a combined 146 games and they lost around 146 million in salary in that period. The most hit by it all was obviously, Ron Artest.
His career trajectory was at a great ascend at the time. One of the best two-way players in the league at the time, Artest was the 2003-04 Defensive Player of the Year while averaging over 18 points per game.
Till this incident took place in November 2004, he was averaging over 24p/6.4r/3.1a/1.7s/0.9b in 7 games probably reaching for his career year and the one which could have even earned him a max contract.
From potentially becoming a superstar in the league, one night sent him to Sacramento and Houston, where he still had some 3-4 good years individually but came out of there just as a role player who would be known for helping Kobe win his 5th title.
Also read: LeBron James Lost $15,000 For Touching His Crotch Following A Clutch Jumper
