Metta Sandiford-Artest on giving up money to play for the Lakers

USA Today

4 hours ago

Metta Sandiford-Artest on giving up money to play for the Lakers
In 2009, after a seven-year drought, the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship by defeating the Orlando Magic in five games in the final round of the playoffs. Immediately, their quest for back-to-back titles began, especially since they hadn't gotten revenge on the Boston Celtics after the Celtics embarrassed them in the 2008 NBA Finals.
Their first task was to retain forwards Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza, both of whom were integral parts of their team. Even though the Miami Heat made a big push to sign Odom, he eventually agreed to a new deal to stay put. But Ariza was a different story. He opted to leave and join the Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles replaced him with Metta Sandiford-Artest, then known as Ron Artest.
At the time, Sandiford-Artest had a reputation for being a hoodlum, especially after his role in the infamous "Malice at the Palace" in 2004. But he was on his best behavior as a Laker during the 2009-10 season, and he embraced a greatly reduced offensive role while helping Kobe Bryant and crew win it all over Boston.
He agreed to a contract that paid him $5.85 million that season after he had made at least $7.4 million in each of the previous three seasons. In fact, his salary for the 2009-10 campaign was lower than his salary in each of his prior five seasons.
During an interview with entrepreneur and podcaster Patrick Bet-David, he said he gave up plenty of money to win a ring in L.A., and he was even reluctant to come on board.
"I did not expect that call at 12:01 (the start of NBA free agency). ... I get a call, we pull over, and then my agent, David Bauman, says, 'The Lakers want to speak to you.' Pardon my French, but my first reaction was, 'For [expletive] what?' 'Cause I'm like, 'They just beat us.'
"... I meet with Dr. [Jerry] Buss the next morning and he was like, 'I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to pay you what your worth, but we really want you on this team.'
"... And I said, 'Damn! Dr. Buss, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant.' I love Kobe.
"... I left a lot of money on the table."
Sandiford-Artest saw a big drop in his offensive production. He went from averaging 17.1 points a game during the 2008-09 season to putting up 11.0 points a game the following year, and his 3-point accuracy even fell from 39.9% to 35.5%. To that point in his basketball life, he had always been one of the top offensive options on every team he had ever played on, but with L.A., he was merely a role player.
But he said it was all worth it, partly because he learned a lot about himself, and he learned that he could overcome adversity. In the process of winning the 2010 NBA title, he reversed his public image and suddenly became likable, and he ended up doing plenty of community-oriented work, especially in the area of mental health.