Ron Artest was not the first NBA star to change his name. A number of his predecessors, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, World B.
Free and Bison Dele did so. But as of Monday, he may be the first NBA player ever to change his name twice. Artest originally changed his name to Metta World Peace during the 2011 offseason.
The reasoning he gave Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times in the moment was brilliant: “I changed my name because I got tired of Ron Artest, he’s a [expletive],” World Peace said. “And when fans get mad at me, they can’t say, ‘I hate World Peace.'” Metta is a Buddhist term meaning “loving kindness,” and he will be keeping that as his first name.
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