Metta World Peace: How Severe Should the NBA Come Down on Lakers Forward?

Even if it wasn’t Metta World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest, who threw a vicious elbow in yesterday's Lakers-Thunder matchup, a multiple-game suspension would be imminent. The fact that it was Metta World Peace makes the matter that much more serious.

It’s a shame that a classless cheap shot overshadowed such a great game between two title contenders. Instead of focusing on the fact that the Lakers defeated the perennial favorite to win the Western Conference in thrilling fashion, fans will remember this as the game that World Peace turned back into the reckless ticking time bomb that has been suspended 13 times in his troubled career.

We must remember that the Los Angeles Lakers are not the victims in this situation. The real victim is James Harden, who did not return to the game after the hit and may miss the start of the postseason if he continues to show concussion-like symptoms.

Those who say it was an accident and World Peace was just celebrating are either Lakers fans or need to look up the definition of "celebrating."

If World Peace was in fact celebrating, as he tried to tell the referees after the hit happened, why wouldn’t he have checked if Harden was okay? If the elbow was an accident, wouldn’t World Peace have been shocked that he struck Harden that hard and immediately gone over to apologize? Instead, he jogged away with a vicious look on his face and waited until a postgame interview to show remorse.

Also, it was not as if World Peace lightly grazed Harden. He fully wound up his left elbow and directly struck the right side of Harden’s head. Luckily, it seems as if Harden is going to be okay, because the injury could have been a lot worse.

The question now is for how many games should World Peace be suspended?

One has to take into account World Peace’s history. He has been suspended 13 times in his career for over 100 games and he was the orchestrator of the worst brawl in NBA history.

The fact that he was trying to rationalize the hit after it happened also should play a factor. World Peace showed little remorse and tried to justify his actions instead of accepting that he made a huge mistake.

The people that have defended World Peace say that he’s made major strides since his bad-boy days and has been a high-character guy since joining the Lakers.

I guess those people didn’t watch last year’s playoffs when World Peace gave J.J. Barea a forearm to the throat.

Normally, this would probably be a two-or-three-game suspension. However, when you take World Peace’s history into account, I believe the punishment should be more severe.

The Lakers have only one regular season game remaining against the Sacramento Kings, for which World Peace will undoubtedly be suspended.

In order to send a message that this behavior will not be tolerated, especially for a guy who has been given so many chances, World Peace should be suspended for the entire first round of the playoffs.

It’s evident that World Peace just doesn’t get it, and a harsh punishment will show him that if he doesn’t control himself on the court, he just won’t play. He needs the league a lot more than the league needs him.

The latest in a long line of bonehead moves by Metta World Peace shows that the recent name change has not changed the man.