The “Malice in the Palace” is one of the most chaotic and darkest incidents to occur at an NBA game in the league's history—and resulted in the largest collective punishments for a group of players for a singular incident. Yet, Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) evidently didn't quite grasp the seriousness of the incident, despite the immediate dismay from the basketball world. At least, according to his former teammate Stephen Jackson.

During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show on Monday, Jackson shared his interaction with Artest following the brawl. “We get in the locker room, and we sitting there. My legs all scratched up from hopping over the bleachers, Ron sitting there calming down. His first question to me: ‘Do you think we gonna get in trouble?'.”

Artest was one of the primary participants in the brawl between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons players and fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Nov. 19, 2004. Artest was cooling down on the scorer's table when a fan hurled a beverage his way, prompting Artest to charge into the stands and setting off the ugly brawl. At the time, Artest was coming off of a career-best 2003-04 campaign in which he made his only All Star team and was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year.

NBA commissioner David Stern would end up suspending Artest for the rest of the 2004-05 regular season for his role in the brawl—totaling 86 games, including the playoffs, all but dashing Indiana's championship aspirations.

Jackson was docked 30 games for his role, the second-most of any player involved. Overall, 1o players faced discipline from the league, including nine total suspensions.

You can watch Jackson give his full recollection of the incident here:

Jackson has been one of the more vocal and high-profile leaders and activists during the nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25. Jackson, as has been well-documented, was a childhood friend of Floyd from Houston, and referred to Floyd as “Twin”.