Former Knick star Metta World Peace, who is being sued by his ex over tuition payments for their 13-year-old son, was not only too busy to come to Manhattan court Thursday morning — it was also too early for him to phone in from the West Coast.
“It’s 7 a.m. in the morning in California,” the hoopster’s lawyer, Elisabeth Vreeburg, told Manhattan Family Court Judge Margaret Morgan in explaining why the NBA player wasn’t conferenced in.
“He wasn’t able to be in a place where he could call in,” Vreeberug said.
After uttering a disbelieving, “OK …,” Morgan asked the lawyer for World Peace’s former girlfriend, Jennifer Palma, if he had an objection to his adversary’s absence.
“No objection, besides for the fact that I would have liked to have met the guy,” quipped lawyer Michael Stutman, head of family law at Mischon de Reya.
World Peace, born Ron Artest in Queens, wants to change the location of the case to his native borough.
Vreeburg said the venue change is based on the fact that Palma lives in Woodside and the former couple’s child-custody agreements state that the Queens Family Court should handle disputes.
But Stutman said World Peace’s motives are questionable.
“The motion to change a venue is merely a stall tactic,” charged Stutman, explaining that time is running out for the baller to pay $38,355 for Jeron Artest’s tuition at the prestigious Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn.
The payment is already past due and further delay means Jeron could lose his spot at the top prep school, Stutman said.
The judge said she would issue a decision at a later date.
Outside court, Stutman called World Peace “irresponsible” for allegedly reneging on a promise to Palma to pay the school fees.
“He’s putting [Jeron] in a very difficult position,” he said, noting that World Peace has coughed up private-school tuition for his other children at “some of the best schools in California.”
After the Knicks bought him out of his $3.2 million contract in February, World Peace moved to Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
He earned $9 million last year and has three other children with his ex-wife, “Basketball Wives: LA” star Kimsha Artest.
World Peace met Palma, who owns an online marketing company, at St. John’s University.
Vreeburg declined comment, joking to Stutman outside court that her client also wants the venue change because “the press won’t go to Queens.”