Metta SandifordArtest born Ronald William Artest Jr November 13 1979 previously legally named Metta World Peace is an American former professional basketball player who played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association NBA Under the name Ron Artest he played college basketball for the St Johns Red Storm He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1999 NBA draft In 2001 he signed with the Indiana Pacers where he won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and was also named an NBA AllStar in 2004 Later that year he was involved in an oncourt altercation between the Pacers and the Detroit Pistons and was suspended for the remainder of the 200405 season Weeks after the start of the 200506 season he was traded to the Sacramento Kings and spent the 200809 season with the Houston Rockets In 2009 he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers and helped the team win their NBA championship in 2010 In 2011 he legally changed his name to Metta World Peace and continued to play with the Lakers until 2013 where he signed with the New York Knicks After a year of hiatus from the NBA he returned to the Lakers for his last season in 2015 before retiring the following year On May 4 2020 he announced that he had changed his name once again to Metta SandifordArtest combining his last name with that of his second wife Maya Sandiford From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia