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Former NBA Defensive Player of the Year winner Metta World Peace — or whatever name he goes by right now — has come out to once again retell his version of the events that led to him breaking the great Michael Jordan's ribs.
This contentious incident transpired in 2001 prior to Jordan's second comeback, this time with the Washington Wizards. The man formerly known as Ron Artest was an NBA newcomer with the Chicago Bulls at that time, and he gave a very vivid narration of how things went down:
“(Jordan) would say, ‘Hey, make sure you come back (to play pick-up at the private gym in Chicago).’ And I’m like, ‘Oh wow, Michael Jordan said ‘Come back’ to play because of how hard I played against him,” World Peace started, via Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “And then you know, (on that day) when he locks you in the post, I tried to deny because the key to Jordan is you can’t let him touch the ball, right? So then as I was denying with the left hand, my right elbow went under his hand that was under his left hand that was grabbing me, so I get his hand out the way, then I hit him with my elbow in his ribs and then the ref called an offensive foul. Jordan had refs at every single run, and the ref called an offensive foul, and I’m like, ‘Yeah!’ And then Jordan went like this (holds his side) and I was like ‘Oh…’
“I remember (thinking) like, ‘I think I hurt Michael Jordan,’ so I went home and I didn’t leave my house for like two days. I didn’t go back to the gym, and everybody’s like, ‘Where you at?’ I was just home. I was drinking some Hennessy, and the Bulls didn’t hear from me, and then … my agent called me at the time, it was Mark Bartelstein. And he called me and said, ‘Hey, you all right?’ I said, ‘No, I think I hurt Michael Jordan.’
It soon came out that Jordan had broken ribs. The story was sensationalized by the media, with suggestions that there was a legitimate fight and Artest had punched Jordan. Artest didn't even want to leave his apartment because he was scared.
Jordan eventually reached out to the petrified Artest, telling him that everything was okay and that “things happen” and he shouldn't worry about it. Needless to say, the young forward was thrilled:
“It was one of the greatest phone calls I got in my life. I spoke to Jordan twice on the phone in my life.”
That's one awesome story, and it never gets old listening to Metta World Peace (or Ron Artest or Metta Sandiford-Artest) tell his NBA stories.
