Meet Metta World Peace, the Basketball Player Formerly Known as Ron Artest

Ron Artest is good, but it just doesn’t have that zing to it. Now Metta World Peace, that has pazazz. Lakers’ forward Ron Artest is trying to legally change his name to Metta World Peace.

Artest sites personal reason in his filing for wanting the name change. He has a court date for August 26th to see if he can made the name change legal.

Artest, who was once best known for charging into the stands after fan, has been doing a lot to change his bad boy image. Artest won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, then auctioned off his championship ring for charity.

But Artest isn’t the first basketball player to want a free loving hippie name. Lloyd Bernard Free, who played in the 80′s, had his first name changed to World.

[Source: Yahoo, AJC]