Metta World Peace is known for saying a lot of things that may provide entertainment value, but that you can’t always take 100 percent seriously.
For example, after being amnestied by the Lakers, World Peace said he may consider playing basketball in China or even giving arena football a try before he’d look to an NBA return with another team next season.
None of that seems likely. But we now know that World Peace has cleared the amnesty waiver process, and is an unrestricted free agent, with at least one team already looking to add him to the roster.
From Al Innazzone of Newsday:
And the interest appears to be mutual.
From Sam Amick of USA Today:
The Clippers were thought to be preferable to World Peace, due to the fact that he’d get to remain in Los Angeles while joining a stacked team that would be favored to advance deep into the postseason.
But World Peace is from New York, as he likes to often (and sometimes famously) remind us. Knicks head coach Mike Woodson is no stranger to managing quirky personalities, getting the most out of J.R. Smith last season.
World Peace may be unique from a personality standpoint, but has an excellent reputation for having a strong work ethic and taking his job seriously. He can still defend at an above average rate, and can knock down the three at times when he gets his chances. He averaged 12.4 points and 5.0 rebounds in 33.7 minutes per game for the Lakers last season.