While Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart continues to deal with the fallout of his actions Saturday night after he pushed a Texas Tech fan, New York Knicks forward Metta World Peace believes that Smart can learn a lesson from it.
World Peace, then known as Ron Artest, ran into the stands and attacked a fan who he believed threw a beer at him, landing him a 73-game ban during the regular-season and a suspension throughout the postseason.
Smart's incident came on Saturday night when he confronted a fan late in the game. According to ESPN, the fan was Jeff Orr, who is a Texas State super fan.
The incident occurred when it appeared as though Orr said something to Smart, and Smart responded by shoving him before he was pulled away by his teammates. Smart didn't play in the final seconds of the game after receiving a technical foul.
Smart, 19, was suspended for three games and is projected to be a high NBA draft pick. World Peace spoke from experience before the Knicks 112-100 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
"Just in general, I heard the kid is pretty good and a potential pro," World Peace said per ESPN. "So those types of challenges on the court when you're playing and fans are rooting against you -- that was a great lesson learned, so that hopefully when he does become a pro, he'll be able to kind of withstand the fans that are rooting against him on the road."
World Peace believes that Smart should channel his energy for something else.
"I think that emotion and that fire could be directed towards winning on the court instead of directed other ways," World Peace said via ESPN.
World Peace also said that even though he's only 19, Smart needs to look at the big picture.
"At 19 years old, when I came out of St. John's, I was fresh out the 'hood. I was fresh out of Queensbridge," World Peace told ESPN. "So my mentality was still struggle, defensive and things like that. I wasn't really conscious. I'm 34 years old now. So he's a young kid. I wish I would have listened when I was a kid to my elders or people who had my best interests at heart, and then I wish I would have been more conscious at that age also. Those are two things that, if you were to reach out to a kid like Marcus -- a talented kid, future leader in the community -- you would tell him those things."
Despite his outburst, it's doubtful that the isolated incident will negatively impact Smart's draft status.
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