Metta World Peace Suspension: Lengthy Wait for Word from NBA Bad Sign for Lakers

The more time the NBA spends watching the replays of Metta World Peace's errant elbow to James Harden's head during Sunday's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the worse the punishment figures to be.

Heck, try watching video of the hit over and over again without your opinion of The Basketball Player Formerly Known as Ron Artest sinking considerably, without thinking that the league ought to err on the side of punishing him too harshly rather than not harshly enough.

Then, remember that he's about as frequent a repeat offender as the NBA has ever seen, with 111 games missed over the course of 13 different suspensions.

Granted, one of those suspensions—the one stemming from his involvement in the "Malice at the Palace"—accounts for 86 of those games.

Still, that means he's had David Stern on his case 12 other times, including the one-game ban he incurred for clotheslining J.J. Barea during last year's Western Conference semifinal series against the Dallas Mavericks.

To his credit, Metta's come a long way from his days as a wily lunatic and amateur rapper. He's dedicated himself to raising awareness about mental illness, for which he was given the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award just last year.

None of that, though, can excuse his concussing of Harden, be it incidental or intentional. The NBA's recent institution of a new policy for head injuries, in response to the growing fear of their long-term ramifications, won't help his case any.

Neither will it help the Lakers, whose shallow bench will be even shallower without World Peace in the lineup. His absence will likely force Matt Barnes into the starting five, though, Barnes may not be fully effective after tweaking his ankle against the Thunder.

Which likely leaves more minutes in the hands of sophomore Devin Ebanks, who played well down the stretch against OKC but on whom it'd be incredibly risky for Mike Brown to depend as the Lakers pursue a title.

All of which points to one thing—L.A. needs World Peace with his feet on the court and his head screwed on straight. He'd finally been rounding into proper form, playing with a fire and a physicality that laid dormant while he worked to shed the weight he'd added during the lockout-lengthened offseason.

But the longer the league waits to announce World Peace's punishment, the longer it deliberates over what the proper penalty is, the worse it figures to be for Metta and the Lakers, whom he so thoughtlessly imperiled with a blow to Harden's head.

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