The forward for the Los Angeles Lakers Ron Artest now wants to change his name to Metta World Peace. His attorney went ahead and filed a petition back in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday seeking to change his name. The currently 31 year old is an NBA start born as Ronald William Artest Jr. In his court documents Artest cites a number of personal reasons for the will to change his name. The court date set to consider the petition is August 26^th .

Artest has had a career which has been filled with both ups and downs, he recently helped the Lakers win the NBA championship a year back in April for which he received an award for being an outstanding player and delivering a great service to his community. He has also testified before the congress in order to support the mental health legislation. Basketball odds

Artest is best known for triggering a really bad brawl in the history of the NBA when he jumped right into the stands and attacked one of the fans while he was playing for the Indiana Pacers back in November of 2004. He was then suspended for the entire season. However this petition to change his name wont make him the first NBA player to do so, but rather one of the few.

The first name change was of Lloyd Bernard Free who played in the NBA from 1975 to 1988,  back in 1981 he had his name changed to World. He was given this nickname by a friend owing to his 44 inch vertical jump and 360 degree dunks. Later on the star of the Cincinnati Bengals Chad Johnson changed his name to Ochocino in August of 2008 which means “eight five” in Spanish. Odds

The general manager Mitch Kupchak speaking on Artest’s planned change said “It brought a smile to my face,” “It’s been done before. … So, other than that, I don’t really have a comment.”

The GM was then asked if he had preferred that Artest’s jersey had “peace” or “World Peace” in the next season? Kupchak said “I’m an advocate of World Peace,”

How the new name will affect Ron Artest’s game play and on court demeanor is something which is still unknown. Scores