Lakers: Metta World Peace is Friends With the ‘Malice at the Palace’ Beer Thrower

Just when you thought Lakers’ forward, Metta World Peace‘s life couldn’t get any more intriguing…

November 19, 2016 will mark the 12th year anniversary of the fated day now known as the “Malice at the Palace,” in which the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons got into a brawl which quickly erupted and flooded over into the stands.

Nowadays, the player most associated with the chaos is definitely Lakers’ forward, and former Pacer, Ron Artest. But to his credit, he didn’t start his assault on the fans for no reason.

Staying relatively out of the fray by lying on top of the scorers table, Artest was hit with a rogue beer can, followed by a full pitcher of beer which sent him into a frenzy. Ironically, the man now known as Metta World Peace actually ended up getting into it with the wrong fan initially.

Here are a few observations and questions after re-watching the footage from that night over 10 years ago:

1. Was it ever common practice to sell full pitchers of beer at basketball games or am I missing something?
2. Bill Walton‘s comments right before the beer is thrown. “They need to somehow find a way to get this game over with.” Whether it was because he just wanted to go home, a la Stu Lantz, or because he could feel the tensions rising, Walton couldn’t have been more right.
3. How calm Tim Legler, Greg Anthony and Stephen A. Smith are but how hyped John Saunders was after the game is called off.

These days, according to Stephen Jackson who was recently on ESPN’s The Jump with Rachel Nichols, World Peace is actually friends with the man who threw the pitcher of beer at him which should somehow come as no surprise.

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Hearing MWP talk about the incident now is interesting, as he still maintains that he was just trying to avoid anymore conflict by lying on the scorers table. That said, were that entirely true, walking towards his own bench and sitting there likely would’ve been the best option.

But then again, he is Ron Artest.

Personally, it’s nice to know that, while the events from the Palace have followed him around, that it hasn’t completely tarnished his reputation especially with what he does for the community.

But if a brawl like that could never happen again in the NBA setting, or in any other professional sports setting for that matter, that’d be greeeat.

Next: Jahlil Okafor Not On Lakers Radar

(H/T to BelieveTheHypeNBA for catching this)