During Sunday’s NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder we were reminded of how vile and violent Lakers power forward Ron ‘Metta World Peace’ Artest can be in life and on a basketball court.

It all happened in the second quarter, right before half time when World Peace dunked on Serge Ibaka on a fast break. MWP then pumped his chest and delivered a nasty elbow to the head of Thunder small forward James Harden.

The disgusting act is one of the worst acts of physical violence in the NBA in quite some time.  MWP was ejected from the game and will likely be suspended from the NBA. Harden laid motionless on the court for several moments after the play.

Artest caused the ‘Melee in the Palace’ several years ago when he rushed into the stands to attack a fan that he thought had thrown a beer on him while he  was laid out on the scorer’s table. Artest was suspended for the rest of that season.

Los Angeles Clippers All-Star point guard Chris Paul has bought punk rocker Avril Lavigne’s Bel Air mansion.

Avril listed the home last May for $9.5 million. Paul likely paid less than the listing price for the house.

Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul just spent some of his $68 million contract on a mansion in Bel Air. The home belonged to pop singer Avril Lavigne who listed it after separating from husband Deryck Whibley of the band Sum 41.

The Southern California mansion is 12,184 square feet and includes eight bedrooms and 10.5 bathrooms. The Mediterranean-style house features a wine cellar, a 10-car garage, and a gym with a sauna. There is also a covered outdoor living room the opens up to the swimming pool, jacuzzi, and BBQ. The home has made the rounds in Hollywood, as Lavigne bought the home in 2007 from Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and his wife. The home was featured in the TV show, Meet the Barkers.

Congrats to Chris on his new city and digs!

See More Photos HERE at Realtor.com

NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire’s brother, Hazell Stoudemire, tragically died in a car accident on Route 27 in Lake Wales, Florida on Monday morning (February 6). Hazell, who was only 35 years old, was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the NBA player’s brother was driving at a “high rate of speed” and was not wearing a seat belt when he collided with the rear of a tractor trailer and smashed his car into the big rig. It’s still unclear if alcohol was a factor in the accident.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Amar’e and his family.

R.I.P. Hazell Stoudemire.

[image: PNP/wenn.com]

The dunk of the year tonight in the NBA by the Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin over Oklahoma City Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins.

Multiple angles and views in the video above as Griffin soared over the rim to dunk over Perkins as he was fouled hard. Nice pick and roll by Chris Paul dishing the ball down to Griffin for the powerful tomahawk dunk.

Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all-time and a 6-time NBA Champion with the Chicago Bulls, is engaged to his longtime girlfriend-model Yvette Prieto according to Yahoo!

The NBA legend is reportedly engaged to longtime girlfriend and Cuban-born model Yvette Prieto. The couple has been dating for more than three years.

A Jordan spokeswoman first confirmed the news to WCNC in Charlotte, NC, that he popped the question on Christmas. Prieto is 32 years old, while Jordan is 48.

Jordan divorced his first wife, Juanita Jordan, five years ago to the day of his proposal to Yvette.  Jordan has two adult sons from his first marriage, Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James Jordan. Juanita took home $168 million from the divorce.

Michael Jordan’s Girlfriend Yvette Prieto Pregnant?

Jordan is the current owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. However, he has been known more for his partying since retiring than success as an NBA General Manager or owner.

Michael Jordan’s Smoking Hot Girlfriend (Wife to Be)

Jordan is pictured above with Yvette and his likely best man, Charles Oakley.

Best of luck to the happy couple!

Comedy Central funnyman, Dave Chappelle, phoned in a recent charity performance in Miami – literally.

According to reports, the former Chappelle Show star who was appearing at a charity event put on by NBA great Alonzo Mourning, seemed more interested in checking his text messages than telling jokes.  CNN reporter Roland S. Martin was in attendance at the event for Mourning’s youth charity and chronicled the entire debacle.

[Chapelle]‘s spent more time going back & forth with one audience member, & pretty much stopped telling jokes … He got texted four times during his show and actually checked them … He’s just staring at the crowd & sighing … He’s been on stage 46 minutes & told one joke.

C’mon Dave!  I know you’re not making any money for this show, but at least pretend like you want to be there!

Apparently, Chappelle was more than a little peeved after a fan decided to heckle him during the show and retaliated by giving the crowd the silent treatment.  What is up with the standup comedian community lately!?  Can’t you guys just get on stage and make us laugh, without making headlines?

Dwight Howard, the talented yet underachieving star center of the Orlando Magic, is well known as one of the goofier players in NBA history.

On Wednesday, Dwight decided to poke fun at LeBron James hairline in response to a tweet from his barber.

Dwight had been tweeting planking pictures all day, when he tweeted one of himself planking while getting a trim from his barber, Kevin Tyler.

Tyler tweeted to Dwight, “You better stop before your shapeup looks like Lebrons!”

So what was Dwight’s hilarious and disrespectful tweet response to Tyler about James?

CLICK HERE TO READ DWIGHT’S JOKE TWEET IN RESPONSE

NBA All-Star, Gilbert Arenas, claims that former finace, Laura Govan, is exploiting him and their four children, in order to appear on the VH1 reality show, Basketball Wives: LA.

Wait, someone is trying to manipulate an NBA player for money and fame?  Get out!

Govan says she’s simply using the show to get a new lease on life after breaking up with Arenas and giving birth to their son, Aloni, just three weeks ago.

I just wanted to showcase a new chapter in my life… A fresh start, a fresh outlook on life as a single mom.

According to reports, Arenas has filed a complaint with an LA judge, claiming that the VH1 show has no right to use his name or likeness in any of their programming, without his consent.  Court documents filed state that, “The very presence of defendant Govan and the title of the show is an obvious reference to [Arenas].”  Arenas and his attorneys hope that the court will place an injunction on the series, which would prohibit it from hitting airwaves.

This may be a totally mute point, but isn’t this show called Basketball Wives not Basketball Baby Mamas?

[Image: Carrie Devorah/WENN]

LA Laker, Ron Artest, is making another big splash in the public eye, but this time it’s not for his on the court antics… it’s for his regular old, normal, being a wack-job antics.  You know, the kind of antics you have to file paperwork for.

According to TMZ, Artest recently filed a petition in LA Superior Court to legally change his name to: Mr. Metta World Peace.

Is it just me or does, “And it’s Peace for three!”, not really have a ring to it?

In a recent interview with TMZ Live, Artest AKA Peace, confessed that he’s been thinking about changing his name for a while, but kept the idea under his hat until he was sure he had found the perfect pseudonym.  The volatile #15 didn’t even share his secret with his own wife!

Is this name change thing really going to be all that awesome when the NBA is stuck in a lockout next season?  You’re just going to be a regular guy named Metta World Peace and that, my friend, is preeeetty lame.

[Image: Josiah True/WENN]

Former NBA star, Allen Iverson, who is currently playing for Besiktas in Turkey, was a good husband and never cheated, says his estranged wife, Tawanna Iverson, who has just re-filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage.

Allen Iverson’s New Haircut, Cuts Off Cornrows (Photos)

According to court documents, Tawanna and Allen’s marriage is “irretrievably broken”, but she recently claimed that contrary to the rumors, she has never caught her husband cheating on her with another woman during their relationship. The divorce situation is much simpler, the two just grew apart.

“Cheating in the marriage has never been an issue. My decision to divorce has nothing to do with another woman.” Tawanna explains, “Sometimes people just grow apart and it’s just that simple. Many people want this to be more complicated than that and it’s not.”

Hopefully, their divorce also has nothing to do with the rumors the basketball player is broke and heavily in debt. Iverson and his high school sweetheart tied the knot in August of 2001. They have five children together.

Dallas Maverick’s star, DeShawn Stevenson, was arrested in Irving, Texas last night for public intoxication.

#92 was allegedly wandering around an apartment complex, not his apartment complex mind you, when police were called to the scene.  Stevenson could only tell the arresting officers that he was “lost” before (not surprisingly) flunking the field sobriety test.

The officers who arrested the 6’5″ guard, claimed they hauled him down to the station because they, ‘felt he was a danger to himself and others.’

If by “others” they meant, LeBron James, then yes, he was.  Ooooh snap!

Stevenson posted his own $475 bail early this morning.

Oklahoma City Thunder player Nate Robinson was caught in a very compromising position as he urinated on the sidewalk just outside the Barnes & Noble store in White Plains, New York at around 2 am on Friday (June 9).

The 5-foot-9 former slam dunk champion was promptly taken into custody, booked for a public urination violation charge, and released on $100 bail. Nate was ordered to return to court on June 22. Bad luck! Nate could have easily found a bathroom nearby.

Nate took to his Twitter to apologize to the fans. He wrote, “Hey tweeps…I made a silly mistake last night…I apologize for my actions, it definitely won’t happen again! #WorDaApP.” Yep, Nate learned his lesson.