The Los Angeles Lakers have kept Metta World Peace around the franchise for years, but after playing in just 25 games last season, he was not back on the Lakers roster nor on the sidelines this time around. That’s changing, sort of.
World Peace has agreed to join the South Bay Lakers, the Lakers’ development league team, as a player development coach, the team announced on Monday. The Lakers were clear that his time as a Lakers player was over during exit interviews, and one week into the season, it seems Ron Ron’s getting the basketball jones.
It’s a small role for Ron for the time being, and a chance for him to see just how committed he is to working up the coaching ladder. Building up from being a player development coach with the South Bay squad is no small task, putting Artest on the ground level of a new career in basketball.
What does it mean? Not a whole lot for now. The Lakers have always appreciated having World Peace around their roster, and even if he’s working with the South Bay portion of the organization, he’ll be in the same UCLA Health Training Center as the rest of the Lakers when they’re home.
This has all been a really long way of saying welcome back, Ron. We missed you.