Advertisement

Metta World Peace revisits the past

Lakers forward Metta World Peace high-fives Coach Byron Scott as he checks out during the first half.

Lakers forward Metta World Peace high-fives Coach Byron Scott as he checks out during the first half.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Share

Sorry, everybody.

Metta World Peace will not run for president.

He celebrated a birthday last week, his 36th, and it was pointed out to him Monday that he was already legally old enough to run the United States.

“Your name is your platform,” said a sharp Lakers publicist walking through the locker room and catching wind of the discussion.

“You guys are nuts,” World Peace said to a small group, primarily reporters, before the Lakers played the Phoenix Suns.

Advertisement

Some people thought it was a joke for the Lakers to sign the NBA veteran a few days before training camp. It happened so late, and so unexpectedly, that he wasn’t even included in the Lakers’ annual media guide. (The Kobe Bryant bio possesses eight pages of the 336-page glossy book. World Peace has nothing.)

He hasn’t been a punchline his first two months back in the league. He keeps the locker room light in a dour season and has successfully transitioned from all the suspensions and lost wages to, dare it be said, a role model?

He earned his third start of the season in place of the sore/fatigued Bryant on Monday and, sure, why not talk about past campaigns before the Lakers’ 120-101 loss to Phoenix.

In a uniquely World Peace way, he said his brief time with the Houston Rockets ended because he showed up for the team bus in his underwear. It was before Game 7 of the 2009 Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers, who won with ease, 89-70.

World Peace joined the Lakers two months later as a free agent after signing a five-year, $33-million contract.

Advertisement

“I wanted to stay in Houston. I didn’t want to join the best team [the Lakers]. I wanted to play against the best team,” he said. “Houston didn’t offer me a contract. I heard it was because I came on the bus in my underwear. If that’s the story, that’s why, OK.”

The trendy story these days has been to write about World Peace’s mentoring of the young Lakers, if not the sacrifice he made by gladly accepting a reserve role.

World Peace countered the latter notion, saying he’d been in sacrifice mode for years, pretty much since the Lakers signed him for his first run with them.

“Once I came here from Houston … I wasn’t getting the credit that I felt people should have gave me for sacrificing,” he said. “My [scoring] average went down.”

He’s right. He dropped from 17.1 points a game with Houston to 11.0 points his first season with the Lakers.

World Peace could definitely be called entertaining while simultaneously talking and stretching on a yoga mat an hour before Monday’s tipoff. He then went out and scored 12 points on four-for-six shooting.

Advertisement

He can’t, however, be called a soothsayer.

“I just can’t wait to see, like, where we are 10 games from now. This is exciting,” he said before Monday’s loss. “If you know basketball, you can’t just come and walk over us.”

Then the Lakers got walked on by the Suns.

Like father, like…

Phoenix Coach Jeff Hornacek knew the elder Larry Nance, playing with the high-flying Suns forward in the late 1980s.

He liked the hard-charging style of Larry Nance Jr., the power forward selected by the Lakers with the 27th pick.

“Somebody asked, ‘Is he similar to his dad?’ Yeah, they’re both great team players,” Hornacek said. “They just do whatever it takes for the team to win. He played in college for four years so he probably has a little better understanding for the game than a lot of rookies that come out. He’s given them a nice boost.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan

Advertisement