Former Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace (previously known as Ron Artest) told Danny Green about the time he used WebMD to get cleared from an injury
Typically, NBA sports teams have doctors that know best, the Los Angeles Lakers especially. Imagine trying to tell Metta World Peace that he’s wrong, though.
I’m sure at one point or another all of us have typed in some symptoms for an ailment on Google and tried to do some self-diagnosing, perhaps only to spook ourselves with the worst-case scenario, all because we don’t want to sit in the doctor’s office.
World Peace, previously known as Ron Artest, tore his meniscus in 2013 and underwent surgery to repair the knee, estimated to be out for at least six weeks. To everyone’s surprise, Artest returned to the court in less than two weeks.
At the time, this was huge for the Lakers. The team’s star, Kobe Bryant, was already sidelined and out for the year with a torn Achilles’ tendon, so any manpower they could reinstate would be helpful.
Speaking to Danny Green on the Inside the Green Room podcast, World Peace talked about how he convinced the Lakers training staff to let him return to the floor in less than 30 percent of the recovery time they initially estimated.
"“I’m real competitive, so when I tore my meniscus, they said, you know, six weeks, and I did research online where I saw you can come back in five days… I brought the evidence, the proof from doctors that said you can play,” Artest said."
OK, maybe Artest found some scholarly articles that detailed the possibility of returning from a torn meniscus in just a few days to bring to the Lakers training staff, but chances are his searching at least started with something more common like WebMD.
It would have been easy for Artest to simply lie down and accept defeat in 2013, especially with Bryant out for the year. Most counted the Lakers out of competition, but Artest’s competitive mindset wouldn’t let him let the season go to waste, especially given that he was coming up on the conclusion of his career.
"“I wanted a second ring, I knew my career was going to be over, I knew we was playing against the Spurs and we was in the eight spot. But if you don’t think like a champion, you’re never going to be a champion, you’ve got to think like a champion until the last second that you play, you know? So in my mind we was gonna beat the Spurs. I was limping, I was on one leg for the most part, and the Spurs were a really good team, but in my mind we’re gonna win, in my mind we’re gonna win the Finals,” World Peace said."
The Spurs ultimately would bounce the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs in a swift four-game sweep but would go on to lose the Finals to the Miami Heat that year.
Though it didn’t result in a playoff advance, World Peace’s fight to not let the season go to waste for him or the Lakers is admirable.
Usually, when people take WebMD diagnoses to their employers, they’re trying to get out of work, not get back to work quicker!
World Peace wouldn’t end up winning a second ring, but would walk away from the game an All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year.