Metta World Peace may have confirmed some NBA folklore on Tuesday.
He apparently did break Michael Jordan’s ribs during a pickup game.
Here’s Jordan Heck of the Sporting News with the breakdown:
During a Facebook Live interview with Mike and Mike’s Molly Qerim, World Peace talked about the 2001 incident. The possibility of World Peace breaking Jordan’s ribs during a pickup game has been out there for a while. Even MJ discussed it at the time, although he didn’t name the player.
Here’s how World Peace says it went down:
“So I was in a summer gym. R. Kelly would be there sometimes with Jordan, (Charles) Barkley was there sometimes with a lot of other NBA players. It was really good games, tougher than NBA games — rough, tough competition. And Jordan was posting me up. So I was trying to deny him because when Jordan gets the ball, there’s nothing you can do. He’s going to score. So I was trying to deny him and then he was like holding me, so I kind of tried to lift his arm up with my right hand and I accidentally hit him in the ribs with my elbow and then I accidentally broke his ribs.”
Sounds innocent enough.
Imagine, though, if these types of things happened in today’s NBA. Players no doubt play pickup in the offseason now, but I’ll be damned if it’s under these circumstances, with the games being more physical and taxing than actual games.
Exhibition outings, especially non-NBA or -Team USA ones, that result in injury, however accidental, would be a social media disaster.
Back in 2001, Jordan’s broken ribs were probably no big deal, especially because the prime of his career was over and he was only just preparing to return for the Washington Wizards. Today would be a different story.
But we digress.
Metta World Peace once broke MJ’s ribs. It’s been confirmed. Kind of. And he lived to tell the tale. If that’s not impressive, what is?
