The ‘Malice at the Palace’ was a big event in NBA history. The biggest brawl in league history occurred in November 2004, having enormous ramifications for the association, the franchises, and the players involved.
Recently, Netflix released a documentary discussing the events that led to the Malice at the Palace and the consequences of the melee. At the end of UNTOLD Vol 1: Malice at the Palace, Jermaine O’Neal talked about Ron Artest’s decision to request a trade from Indiana after that moment.
The relationship between the big man and the forward wasn’t the best of all, with O’Neal even attacking Artest after the latter asked if they could get in trouble for fighting Detroit Pistons fans.
“Are we going to get in trouble?” Artest asked.
“I said, ‘What do you mean?’” O’Neal replied. “I just lost it.”
“He charged Ron,” Stephen Jackson added. “And we ended up breaking up.”
Around the 61st minute of the documentary, Artest revealed his reasons to request a trade. Struggling with mental health issues, the player didn’t like to wear the Pacers jersey anymore, which led to his controversial decision.
“The Indiana jersey I had on was projected on television at my worst moment. So, wearing it, I wanna hide. I didn’t wanna ever play in an Indiana jersey. Too much pressure. I asked to be traded ’cause like I said, I don’t confront things head-on.”
Of course, this move didn’t sit well with teammates, and Stephen Jackson called Ron out for ‘bailing’ on his team like that.
“That was a slap in my face. After all we’d been through the last year, now you wanna leave us?”
Jermaine O’Neal also discussed the situation, going off on Artest and calling him a coward for taking the easier path and not staying with the team.
“That had a lasting effect with me and Ron. You gotta be accountable for the people that you pulled in. And to me, that was the most coward scenario I’ve ever f*****g seen in my life.”
O’Neal even said he disliked Artest at some point, even more, when he won the 2010 NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. Ron mentioned the players he played with in Indiana while celebrating that title, claiming that he was supposed to live that with them before everything fell apart for the team.
After that moment, Jermaine O’Neal and Ron Artest (who would change his name to Metta World Peace and Metta Sandiford-Artest) didn’t speak to each other for 14 years. It was until they played in the BIG3 league in 2018 when they linked up again.
That Indiana team was ready to grab the Larry O’Brien trophy. Reggie Miller would’ve probably won a ring if that infamous incident never happened, but life is unpredictable, and a simple decision can change the course of a franchise.
