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Ron Artest Talked So Much Trash To Kobe Bryant In Practice, Phil Jackson Had To Step In

The man with the many names, Metta Sandiford-Artest, formerly known as Ron Artest, has had a great NBA career. He’s been an NBA Champion, an All-Star, a member of an All-NBA Team and 4 All-NBA Defensive teams.

But Artest also has always been one of the league’s most controversial players, and still owns the record for the longest suspension for an on-court incident in NBA history.

This also showed when Artest got to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009. He didn’t necessarily make the greatest first impression.

In one of the first practice sessions of the season, newly acquired Artest talked so much trash to Lakers icon Kobe Bryant, that Phil Jackson personally had to step in to stop him.

Per the Los Angeles Times.

“One day in practice I just disrupted the whole practice because I didn’t want them to think, Metta’s on this team, he don’t got a ring, we got a ring, he just gotta come in with the ultimate respect,” said World Peace, whose Houston Rockets team lost to the Lakers in the 2009 playoffs. “It was still a lot of respect, but I had to — I just wanted to compete. I just got finished losing against these guys.”

He talked trash to Bryant and to Jackson, behaving as if he was an opponent, not a teammate. Eventually Jackson tried to defuse the situation.

“Ronny, that’s enough,” he said.

Looking back at it now, it is hilarious. Artest definitely was one of the last persons in need of proving themselves. His reputation was well known, especially in the Lakers locker room and in Kobe Bryant’s head. Just months before joining the Lakers, Artest had threatened to elbow Kobe during the Western Conference Semifinals.