Metta World Peace to Change Name to ‘The Pandas Friend’
Metta World Peace, the NBA player formerly known as Ron Artest, will change his name again.
World Peace, who recently signed a contract to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, announced that he is going to change his name to "The Pandas Friend."
World Peace first announced his plan to change his name again on Friday last week through a post on his Twitter account and through Sina Weibo, which is a popular social media website in China.
"I'm changing my name for the China this season!!! You guys will love it," World Peace wrote on Twitter.
The 34-year-old forward then talked about his plan in an interview with Clever News, where he said: "I'm not going to legally change my name until my career is over. But we are going to do a name change, but I can't tell you what it is."
The China Daily, a Chinese-English news outlet, reported on Wednesday that World Peace is planning to change his name to "Panda Friend" to honor his move to China this summer.
World Peace clarified, though, that his new name will be "The Pandas Friend," not "Panda Friend" through another post on his Twitter account on Friday morning.
"Guys my Chinese name is not 'Panda Friend', it's 'The Pandas Friend'," World Peace wrote.
It will be the second name change for World Peace. The 15-year NBA veteran filed a legal petition in September 2011 to change his name to Metta World Peace.
The former NBA Defensive Player of the Year played in 29 games with the New York Knicks last season, where he averaged 4.8 points to go along with 2.0 rebounds before reaching a buyout agreement.
World Peace planned wanted to return to the Knicks, but did not get a contract. He then accepted a one-year, $1.4 million contract from the Sichuan Blue Whales, which made him one of the highest-paid players in the CBA.
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