Basketball Player Metta World Peace To Change Name To “The Pandas Friend”

The basketball player formerly known as Ron Artest, who changed his name to Metta World Peace in 2011, will now be changing his name to “The Pandas Friend.” The name change is prompted by World Peace’s move to the Chinese Basketball Association where he will be playing with the Sichuan Blue Whales.

World Peace first announced the name change when he tweeted about it a week ago: “I’m changing my name for the China this season !!!! You guys will love it”

Everybody began speculating about the name when World Peace tweeted about going to visit pandas with his daughter: “First thing I am doing when I get to china will be visiting Pandas with my daughter @BabyGirl_Sade”

Then Chinadaily.com reported that World Peace would be officially changing his name to “Panda Friend.” After multiple news sites reported the name change, World Peace himself chimed in on twitter to confirm his actual name change.

“Guys my chinese name is not ‘Panda Friend’ , its ‘The Pandas Friend’.”

World Peace, or now “The Pandas Friend,” is another big name from the NBA to go and play in China. Stephon Marbury and Tracy McGrady also took their careers to China. We will see if a year in China and a new name will revitalize World Peace’s career or if this just confirms him as the crazy guy who is always changing his name.