Does China really know what it’s getting here?
Former NBA All-Star and most recently Laker and Knicks player Metta World Peace has reached a deal to play in China next year, reports the official Chinese news site Sina, via the always on top of it Sportando.
World Peace basically confirmed that.
World Peace, 34, has seen his skill set decline, has some nagging injuries, and couldn’t really get on the floor for a pretty weak Knicks team last season. They agreed to waive him but no other team picked him up (the level of distraction was not worth the production on the court). He didn’t field any good offers this summer either.
In China he will still be a top flight player. On the court he should put up numbers and could get NBA teams to give him a second look (the Chinese season ends in February so he could sign for the rest of the NBA season).
Off the court… that is going to be interesting. Talk to players who go to China and they say the culture shock is the hardest part to deal with — the food is radically different, the entertainment is different, pretty much everything is different. World Peace is headed to the central heartland of the country, an agrarian area (although there are some very large cities as well). There is a high dropout rate of Western players who head to China, can’t deal and get out.
Some guys thrive, with Stephon Marbury being the poster child for that. He has a statue in Beijing now after leading the Ducks to a couple titles.