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The release of Netflix’s Untold: Malice at the Palace documentary early this month showed the ugly side of the NBA, with Metta Sandiford-Artest, aka Ron Artest at the center of the disgraceful incident.
Also formerly known as Metta World Peace, Artest may have had a change of heart towards the latter part of his career. But he is definitely in the running for one of the five dirtiest players of the 21st century. However, there are more.
Throughout NBA history, there have been many players who have done some of the foulest deeds in the game. These players would stop at nothing to win a basketball game even at the expense of an opponent’s well-being.
The dirtiest NBA players are also excellent defenders
What’s ironic about these so-called dirty, unscrupulous players is that they are also among the best in the game defensively. Interestingly enough, their sully reputation doesn’t diminish the effectiveness of their defense.
Sometimes, though, their activities on the court take away from the game, and hinders their team’s success. In fact, as successful as their teams have been, they have cost their teams an NBA championship or two in the process as well.
On that note, here's a look at the five dirtiest NBA players of the 21st century:
#5 Draymond Green
For some reason, Draymond Green ends up hitting opponents in the nuts with his extremities.
Draymond Green had previously targeted and hit Steven Adams in the groin area more than once. Plays such as these have resulted in Green earning a technical foul or suspension from the NBA office.
His most famous 'ball-hitting' incident may have been in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals, when he hit LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the crown jewels. That earned him a suspension because of the accumulation of playoff technical fouls. As a result, Green was suspended for Game 5, and his Golden State Warriors team didn't win another game in that Finals series.
That completed the biggest collapse in NBA history, after the Warriors surrendered a 3-1 series lead, only to squander it. Thanks to Draymond Green’s dirty play, we’ll never know if the Warriors would have won Game 5 had he been on the court.
#4 Kevin Garnett
As good as Kevin Garnett was, he was also one of the NBA players who did some nasty stuff on the court.
The former Defensive Player of the Year knew how to intimidate and get in his opponents’ face. He did so by not just playing straight-up defense, but also by sneaking in an elbow or two to 'soften' up the competition.
One of the most notorious trash talkers during his heydays, Garnett made his opponents feel the difficulty of playing against him by setting screens that would cause many players to curl up and fall down in pain. Like Draymond Green, the Big Ticket was known to target an opposing player’s balls, too.
But his speciality was talking trash and letting opposing NBA players cringe at the foul words coming out of his mouth. Virtually nothing was sacred to Garnett, who intimidated opponents night in and night out with his words and actions at the same time.
#3 Matthew Dellavedova
Did you know that diminutive guard Matthew Dellavedova was once regarded as the dirtiest player in the NBA? That’s right, the 6' 3" veteran guard is in the top five.
Consider that the Australian native was voted in 2015 as the dirtiest player in the NBA in a voting by players and coaches in a Los Angeles Times poll.
Nowhere were Dellavedova’s dirty tactics more pronounced than in the 2015 NBA Finals, where he got the ire of NBA MVP Stephen Curry. The usually calm and collected Curry was incensed many times because of Delly’s tough brand of defense, which included physicality beyond normal means.
Some say that he is merely reckless. But the fact that his tight defense sometimes ends up with someone getting hurt, Delly has to play differently at the defensive end to keep from inflicting harm on his opponents.
#2 Patrick Beverley
From physicality and downright dirty plays to trash-talking, Patrick Beverley is easily counted among the dirtiest NBA players of the 21st century. The 6' 1" Beverley knows a thing or two about how to get a player to focus on him rather than in the game.
His ability to play supreme defense makes it difficult for referees to catch all the dirty little tricks he does. But every now and then, he does something so blatantly obvious that there’s no question how dirty the play was.
Consider how he caused Russell Westbrook’s torn meniscus injury in the 2013 NBA playoffs, whether intentionally or unintentionally, by going after the knees of the former Oklahoma City Thunder guard. The injury required surgery to repair the damage. Then in the 2018-19 season, he dived after a loose ball and nearly injured Westbrook in almost the same fashion.
Finally, unable to stop Chris Paul in Game 6 of the 2021 Western Conference Finals, Beverley pushed the Phoenix Suns guard hard and made him fall on the floor, earning the three-time All-Defensive guard a suspension for the next game.
#1 Metta Sandiford-Artest
During the summer of 2001, playing against Michael Jordan, who was trying to recondition his body so he could unretire and play for the Washington Wizards, the man known formerly as Ron Artest broke His Airness’ ribs. The injury set Jordan’s conditioning back by a few weeks, and that caused quite a stir around the NBA.
For his career, Artest was ejected 11 times, including three times in the playoffs. One of the best defenders in the game during his playing days, Artest was also known for throwing cheap shots at opponents as part of his intimidating tactics.
Artest was central to the 'Malice at the Palace' incident that rocked the basketball world to its core during the 2004-05 season. As Artest revealed in the Netflix documentary, he was already going through therapy to deal with his behavior issues. But on the night of November 19, 2004, he went too far.
With the game out of reach and his Indiana Pacers on their way to a win against the Detroit Pistons, Artest shoved Ben Wallace hard, and that essentially started the infamous brawl that would ensue later. The Indiana Pacers forward was subsequently suspended for the rest of the year by the then NBA commissioner David Stern.
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