# Why is Ron Artest still playing in the NBA? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 1, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488 "2008-08-01T13:55:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488/1 "2008-08-01T13:55:42Z")
How does David Stern continue to allow him to play? The man is a hood and doesn’t do anything for the image of the league. He’s not good enough of a player to make up for the difference. Here’s one of his latest quotes: > [@Ron Artest](#): > > “I understand what Yao said, but I’m still ghetto,” Artest said, according to the report. "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. Once Yao Ming gets to know me, he’ll understand what I’m about. If I were part of his “culture,” I’d be deeply offended by this. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488/2 "2008-08-01T14:08:53Z")
The NFL has its fair-share of douchebag brothers that fulfill the stereotype, the MLB, not so much. But the NBA is packed wall to wall with them and I think Artest fits in just perfectly there which is the 2nd biggest reason I don’t watch basketball anymore. The first being its turned into a game of 10 one man games happening to occur on the same court at the same time. The NBA was made for Artest and Artest was made for the NBA. Or prison. Whatever… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488/3 "2008-08-01T14:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] How does David Stern continue to allow him to play? [/QUOTE] Why shouldn’t he? If he didn’t ban him for the fight in Detroit - which would have been justifiable, I think, but it’s long since passed - getting upset about this quote wouldn’t make any sense. It’s a dumb thing to say, but that’s about it. Artest thinks he’s keeping it real and doesn’t seem to think he’s responsible to anybody, or for anything he does. Same old story with him. > [@](#): > > He’s not good enough of a player to make up for the difference. That isn’t Stern’s call, or at least it shouldn’t factor into his decision. He’s supposed to be an exceptional defender, and apparently at least two teams believe his skills outweight the fact that he’s a total headcase. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488/4 "2008-08-04T12:21:40Z")
Rockets owner Les Alexander really caught me off guard on this one. He’s always shown an inclination in the past to steer away from players with behavior issues and he’s now put what appears to be a well-functioning lockeroom in peril. While Artest is an enormous talent and potentially gives the Rockets a Big 3 capable of carying them well past the first round, the downside is tremendous. Attendance is already down as they lag well behing the Astros and Texans in popularity. Should Artest have an “episode”, an “incident”, I think the negative repercussions will resonate heavily in Alexander’s hollowing wallet. ---
**Author:** ![MrBelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@MrBelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrBelding)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488/5 "2008-08-04T16:24:23Z")
He’s a really great player though, but there’s just too much over him I think for him to return to form at this point. A change of scenery will be a good thing for him, but that team gets along great…until now we’ll see. He was already speaking out about Yao Ming too before he was even there! ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ron-artest-still-playing-in-the-nba/458488/6 "2008-08-04T22:21:59Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] He’s not good enough of a player to make up for the difference. [/quote] Clearly, his employer disagrees.