Metta World Peace is proud of his 33-year-old body that is entering its 14th season in the NBA. Talk to him and it is clear he has spent too much time admiring himself in the mirror.
“My body is amazing,” he told The Post. He was serious, too. “When girls look at my body, they’re like ‘Wow.’ They ask, ‘How old are you, 22?’ I say, ‘Nah. I’m 33.’ ”
Any 30-something athlete still in love with his body is usually in denial. But considering the old warriors the Knicks started last season — Rasheed Wallace, Kurt Thomas, Jason Kidd, etc. — World Peace is in his prime. At least that is how he views it.
“I work hard,” he said. “My abs show. My love handles don’t. I think I have one of the best bodies in the league. I don’t worry about my body breaking down. I’ve been playing for a long time. I’ve had surgeries on my hand. But my first operation on my knee was last year and I came back in five days. That tells you it’s about the person and how badly you want it.”
That’s the kind of win-at-all-costs attitude the Knicks need from World Peace. It’s an attitude that hasn’t been seen much since the days of Charles Oakley. It’s an attitude World Peace must restore on a court that was his home when he played for St. John’s.
If the Knicks are going to get a home-court advantage in the playoffs, they must win a huge portion of their home games during the season. That’s why the kid from Queensbridge needs to reclaim his court beginning with Wednesday night’s opener against the Bucks.
“I’m not big on the enforcement thing,” World Peace said. “I’m big on doing what you’ve got to do. I’ll let people judge and see what they want to call it. For me, I do what I have to do to win.”
In one breath, World Peace will say, finally wearing the uniform of his hometown team isn’t a big deal. There have been too many highs and lows in his career to start getting sentimental now. “I don’t really have much feelings anymore about where I play,” he said. “It’s more about just wanting to win.”
But in the next breath, you realize Wednesday night and rest of this season is meaningful because he has come home in what he calls “perfect timing.” He’s not the powder keg that ignited “The Malice at the Palace” in 2004 and drew an 86-game suspension. He emerged from that to win a championship with the Lakers in 2010 and took time to figure out who he was as a person. Now he’s with the Knicks in perhaps the last stop of his NBA career.
“Personally, I think things happen for a reason,” he said. “I had a whole different mind frame in 1999 or 2004. I’m older now. This is perfect timing. I’m still mobile. It’s not like you’re getting an old 38-year-old, Metta World Peace. You’re getting a 33-year-old, Metta World Peace, who can still give the fans who wanted to see me play in New York something inspiring.”
He’s no longer a visitor on his home court. After playing for the Bulls, Pacers, Kings, Rockets and Lakers, World Peace is with the home team now. Better late than never.
This could have happened long ago, but the Knicks for some inexplicable reason chose Frederic Weis of France with the 15th pick overall in the 1999 draft, leaving the then Ron Artest free to be taken with the 16th choice by the Bulls. You can tell being passed over by the Knicks still irks him.
“I was right under their faces since I was a little boy,” he said.
The little boy has a man’s body now. Just ask him. But this is no joke: The kid from Queensbridge is ready to reclaim his court.