Ronald William "Ron" Artest, Jr.

born November 13, 1979is an American professional basketball player who currently plays with the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Artest gained a reputation as one of the league's premier defenders as he won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2004. He was also criticized for assaulting a fan in the Pacers–Pistons brawl. Artest was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 16th pick of the 1999 NBA Draft. In the 1999–00 season he was named to the Second All-Rookie Team. In 2 1/2 seasons with Chicago he averaged 12.5 points per game, 4.2 rebounds per game, 2.9 assist per game, and 2 steals per game.

While playing for the Bulls, Artest was Michael Jordan's "favorite Bull"
In 2002, Artest was traded by the Bulls to the Pacers, along with Ron Mercer, Brad Miller, and Kevin Ollie, in exchange for Jalen Rose, Travis Best, Norman Richardson, and a second-round draft pick. Artest had his best season in the 2003–2004 season. He averaged 18.3 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game, and 3.7 assists per game. He made the 2004 All-Star Game as a reserve and he was the Defensive Player of the Year.

On November 19, 2004, Artest took center stage in arguably the most infamous brawl in professional basketball history.

The game took place in Auburn Hills, Michigan between Artest's Pacers and the home team Detroit Pistons. The brawl began when Artest fouled Pistons center Ben Wallace as Wallace was putting up a shot. Wallace, upset at being fouled hard when the game was effectively over (the Pacers led 97–82), responded by shoving Artest, leading to an altercation near the scorer's table. Artest walked to the sideline and lay down on the scorer's table. Reacting to Wallace throwing something at Artest, Pistons fan John Green threw a cup of beer at Artest, hitting him. Artest jumped into the front-row seats and confronted a man he incorrectly believed to be responsible which in turn erupted into a brawl between Pistons fans and several of the Pacers. Artest returned to the basketball court, and punched Pistons fan A.J. Shackleford, who was apparently taunting Artest verbally. This fight resulted in the game being stopped with less than a minute remaining. Artest teammates Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson were suspended indefinitely the day after the game, along with Wallace.

On November 21, the NBA announced that Artest would be suspended for the remainder of the season (73 games and playoff), the longest non-drug or betting related suspension in NBA history. Eight other players (four Pacers and four Pistons) received suspensions, without pay, which ranged from one to thirty games in length. Each of the Pacers players involved were levied fines and ordered to do community service. Several fans were also charged and were banned from attending any events at the Palace for life. Artest lost approximately $7 million in salary due to the suspension.

On July 29, 2008, it was reported that Artest was to be traded to the Houston Rockets along with Patrick Ewing, Jr. and Sean Singletary for Bobby Jackson, recently drafted forward Donté Greene, a 2009 first-round draft pick, and cash considerations.[11] The deal was made official on August 14, due to Greene's rookie contract signing on July 14. In response to the trade, Yao Ming was generally positive, but jokingly said that "hopefully he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands." In response, Artest said, "This is Tracy (McGrady) and Yao's team, you know. I'm not going to take it personal. I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto. That's not going to change. I'm never going to change my culture. Yao has played with a lot of black players, but I don't think he's ever played with a black player that really represents his culture as much as I represent my culture."

Since then, Artest and Yao have exchanged extensive phone calls. Artest has also said, "Whatever Adelman needs me to do, whether that's come off the bench, sixth, seventh man, start, I don't even care. Whatever he needs me to do, I'm 100 percent sure it's going to work out."

On October 30, 2008, Artest received his first technical as a Houston Rocket, as he raced towards a group of Mavericks players and then quickly went to Yao Ming who bumped Josh Howard after play stopped. Artest was trying to pull Yao Ming away from the play and to the foul line, but contact was made with Maverick players. The TNT broadcast crew felt this technical was not warranted, and was based upon Artest's prior reputation as a feisty player in the league.

On May 6, 2009, Ron Artest was ejected in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers after Kobe Bryant committed what was later ruled to be a Flagrant 1 foul in which his elbow was thrown into Artest. Artest was indignant after having Kobe's forearm jabbed into his throat but finding himself called for the offensive foul. He preceded to give Bryant a piece of his mind after the play and then gave the officials lip as well, which resulted in an ejection by Joey Crawford.

On May 8, 2009, Artest was again ejected from Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth quarter after a hard foul on Pau Gasol, who was attempting to dunk on a fast-break. Commentators and even Kobe Bryant whom had had an altercation with Artest in Game 2 in which Artest was ejected agreed the flagrant two foul and subsequent ejection was not warranted. True enough, it was determined the next day that the foul was not serious enough to warrant an ejection, and the flagrant two was downgraded