Metta World Peace is heading home, agreeing to a two-year deal with his hometown New York Knicks on Monday.
A source close to the deal said Word Peace and the Knicks agreed in principle to the deal. The Lakers had waived World Peace on Thursday, making use of the amnesty clause, meaning the Lakers will still pay the power forward $7.7 million in the next year. He is also due to get $1.6 million from the Knicks.
Immediately after being cut loose by Los Angeles, Metta World Peace said he wasn’t interested in the NBA and might become a coach, join the Shanghai Sharks, or even play arena football. But that appeared to be a bit facetious, as he entered negotiations with the Knicks very shortly afterward.
On Monday, World Peace gushed about the strong team the Knicks have assembled .
“It’s all about the players,” World Peace said at the Las Vegas Summer League. “The team is amazing.I’m excited to play and hustle. I’m excited to hustle for (Raymond) Felton, for Iman (Shumpert), for Tyson (Chandler), Melo (Anthony), (Amar’e) Stoudemire, coach (Mike Woodson). That’s all it’s about right now. It has nothing to do with New York the city. The only thing that’s important is those players that I will be joining and touching the hardwood with. That’s all that’s important.”
The Knicks passed up on Metta World Peace (then known as Ron Artest) after he came out of St. Johns, thinking he wasn’t ready for the bright lights of New York. And the were probably right — the early part of his career was marked with disciplinary issues, including a season-long suspension for his role in the brawl in Palace Hills in 2004.
But World Peace says he’s a different man now.
“As a young kid, growing up in the Queensbridge projects, whether you’re from Brooklyn or Fort Rock, and you get into a world where you go from having nothing to making a million dollars a year and so many people telling you ‘You’re the best, you’re this, you’re that,’ and you believe that, and you get in trouble,” he said. “And that’s what happens to a young kid when you’re raised in a dysfunctional environment, a dysfunctional neighborhood. And then it takes 10 years for you to realize that you grew up in dysfunction and you’re going to continue to make mistakes if you don’t change. Not change, improve. You never want to change, you just want to improve.”
Knicks coach Mike Woodson said he isn’t worried about the prospect of coaching Metta World Peace, saying, “I don’t think there’s a player I can’t coach if he’s willing to be coached.”
