Five years ago tonight, Ron Artest  went Ron-Ron and was involved in the “Malice at the Palace.”

Looking back at the incident, which resulted in a 73-game suspension for the Pacers forward, little has changed with the NBA since then.

The key players involved in the incident – - Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal all were able to recover from the fight that night and have gone on to new teams.

And John Green, the fan who sparked the incident, is now on speaking terms with Artest.

He was on ESPN’s 1st and 10 this morning discussing the phone call he got during the summer at his home from Artest.

Time heals most things in life and I respect Artest even more for looking up this guy and calling him up to squash whatever hard feelings both sides might have.

But that doesn’t mean I still don’t think Artest is two secs away from going Ron-Ron at any given moment.

Handle with care, Lakers.

He’s a delicate flower.

Well, that didn’t last long.

After playing just three games with the Memphis Grizzlies, Allen Iverson is on his way out of town.

The two sides have agreed to a mutual end of his one-year contract and the point guard will be placed on waivers.

And of course who is the one team that is showing an interest in Iverson…

The New York Knicks.

As if the Knicks are bad enough as it is, adding a selfish player like Iverson to their roster will do nothing except damage that organization even more.

Can we just ship him off to Europe somewhere? Let some other organization deal with him.

You won’t be able to convince me at this point that he’s worth the baggage that he brings considering his skills have diminished over the last couple of seasons.

The beginning of the Allen Iverson era in Memphis is slowly coming to an end.

Iverson returned home to Atlanta on Saturday, skipping the Grizzlies game against the Los Angeles Clippers to deal with “personal business.”

Head coach Lionel Hollins said Iverson’s departure from the team was “indefinite.”

“There’s no question that when he comes back we have to work some things out,” Memphis owner Michael Heisley said. “He’s got a lot of work to do, but we’ve all got to get on the same page. He understands what the conditions are. And we need to be less hyper about this along with Allen.”

For all you folks who felt I needed to retire for my previous post, now do you believe me when I said Iverson needs to leave the league?

Even if he gets out of his contract with Memphis, who would want to sign this guy?

Stay classy, A.I. and enjoy sitting at home in Atlanta.

Oh, Allen.

What are we and the Memphis Grizzlies going to do with you?

You had to know before you signed that one-year contract with the Grizz that you weren’t going to start over O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley.

So tell me why you’re already throwing a fit about not starting?

“I had no problems with the hamstring. I had a problem with my butt sitting on that bench for so long,” Iverson told the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. “I’m not a sixth man. Look at my resume and that’ll show I’m not a sixth man. I don’t think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It’s just who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success that I’ve had since I’ve been in this league. I’m not a sixth man. And that’s that.”

You were a sixth man last year and you will continue to be a sixth man unless a team wants a selfish, aging point guard.

Grow up or just retire, A.I.

Paul Millsap, meet Carmelo Anthony.

The Denver Nuggets forward wasted no time making his bid for Dunk of the Year in their season opener Wednesday night.

Who had the better dunk: Carmelo or Blake Griffin?

The champs are here.

The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off the NBA season Tuesday night with a 99-92 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers but not before picking up their championship hardware.

Talk about bling – - that’s a serious ring.

And the only player on this year’s roster who was involved in the ring ceremony is new addition Ron Arest, who was a member of the Houston Rockets last season.

If Artest didn’t already have enough motivation to win a title, sitting through a ring ceremony will only add more fuel to the fire.

Based on their schedule, the talk during the TNT broadcast is the Lakers can go 20-1 to start the season.

If (and only IF) the Lakers can stay healthy (ie: Pau Gasol returns in a speedy fashion), the Lakers might make a legit run at the Bulls record of 72-10.

What do you think of the Lakers chance at repeating this season?

Blake Griffin, welcome to the Los Angeles Clippers!

The top overall pick in the NBA Draft will miss at least six weeks with a stress fracture of the left patella (kneecap), less than 24 hours before their season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tough break for the possible rookie of the year who likely won’t be back until around Christmas.

If this isn’t enough proof to prove that this franchise is curse, I don’t know what is.

Griffin is not the only Clipper battling injuries; starters Baron Davis and Marcus Camby were also injured in the preseason.

Get better, Blake!

Charles Barkley …. general manager?

That’s the dream of the NBA Hall of Famer, who is willing to walk away from his Inside the NBA gig on TNT for the front office.

“I think that it’d be fun to try to build my own team,” Barkley said at a luncheon on Monday. “We talk about it all the time. Sometimes we say, ‘What is that guy doing? Why did he draft that guy? Why did he make a trade for that guy?’ “Some of these guys have done a bad job, plain and simple.”

Chuck, we have seen you play “Who He Play For” on Inside the NBA. You might not be the best person to be picking players for your team.

Barkley is starting his 10th season on TV when the gang (Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, Chris Webber) gets back together Tuesday night for the start of the NBA season.

And to be honest, he’s brilliant at what he does.

I couldn’t imagine what Thursday nights would be like without Smith or Barkley on TV.

Stick with the fantasy basketball, Charles.

One of the most underrated players in the NBA is Washington Wizards forward Caron Butler. Nicknamed “Tough Juice,” Butler finds himself in an elite class of players who averaged 20 points, six rebounds and four assists last season, sharing that accomplishment with LeBron James.

With a healthy Gilbert Arenas and new head coach Flip Saunders, the Wizards are looking to return to the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

BET.com chatted with Butler as his team was getting ready for the season opener on Oct. 27 against Dallas.

On how the preseason is going:

Preseason is going pretty well. It’s going smoother than I thought. I know Flip Saunders is an offensive guy and I know he has a huge playbook. I thought the offense was going to be kind of hard to adapt to but we have been running smoothly.

On the biggest difference between new head coach Flip Saunders and ex-coach Eddie Jordan:

I don’t see a huge difference from a personality stand point because they are both guys who are great coaches and they reach out to their players and try to influence them to get the best out of them. I have only been under Coach Saunders for the last month. With Eddie, I had him for four years, so that will be a question I will have to answer later in the year.

On how the team’s new iTouch’s are treating the team:

(Laughs) They are treating me good. It’s something new … getting an iTouch. I’m actually looking at it right now and seeing all the plays that are in it. It’s unbelievable. They actually have a visual; he got all the assistant coaches along with himself running through the plays and giving you an idea on where you’re suppose to be at and what the formation is. I thought it was a great idea.

On coming to his own as a player on the court:

Yeah, definitely. I feel I have on-and-off the court. You got the notoriety and the fan’s respect, coaches and all those guys you go against. I really do feel like I established that respect and hopefully I can take it to new heights this season.

On ranking No. 28 on Slam’s Top 50 list, ahead of teammates Gilbert Arenas (No. 34) and Antawn Jamison (No. 37):

(Laughs) I like that.

On having Gilbert Arenas back in the locker room:

It’s been fun. Seeing Gilbert back and seeing him interacting with everyone and having a good time and seeing him healthy. As a teammate, I’m just happy to see him like that.

On which player would surprise fans the most in terms of what they are like off the court between Dwyane Wade, Gilbert Arenas and Kobe Bryant:

You see a lot of Dwayne’s personality and Gilbert’s personality through blogs and commercials but I would say the guy that would surprise you the most is Kobe. He’s just an ordinary guy, a real cool, down-to-earth person and someone I can truly call my friend. Someone that reaches out and calls me back and texts me. That’s like a big brother to me. I don’t think a lot of people see that side because he’s such a killer on the court.

He used to be more standoffish but I think he’s opening up a little bit more and letting people in a little bit. You just have to realize what point he’s at in his career. He’s iconic, the closest thing we have had to Michael [Jordan] in a long time. Who can blame him for being like that?

On if he thinks about if he wasn’t traded for Kwame Brown and Laron Profit?

I have in the past and once I started having a lot of success in Washington and stuff like that, I got over it. I know Washington is the place for me and I look forward to doing what they’re doing in LA someday in Washington.

On how long he has been chewing straws:

I can’t even remember. It was so long ago, pretty much my whole life I have been chewing on something.

On his Top 5 restaurant straws:
1.    McDonald’s
2.    Starbucks
3.    AMC movie theaters
4.    7-11 Slurpee straws
5.    Subway

On how much DeShawn Stevenson would have to pay him in order to get a tattoo of a straw on his face:

(Laughs) It’s not happening. I can’t do it. I would probably get Obama on my neck like he has Abraham Lincoln.

On his childhood:

Growing up in Racine, Wisconsin, I went through a lot in my childhood. At around 12 or 13, I started having a lot of run-ins with the law. I was arrested between 14 and 15 times before I ended up at Ethan Allen Correctional facility for possession of firearm and an ounce of crack cocaine. I ended up doing 13 months total there and four months in the county, so 17 months incarcerated. During that time I changed my life. I was tired of being incarcerated and didn’t want to continue to repeat that cycle. Once I got out , I started playing basketball and I got involved with AAU, traveled the world and was exposed to a whole other life. That’s when I started hooping. I went to prep school for two years and then I went to UCONN for two years and finally made it to the NBA.

Can’t we all just get along?

Years after competing against each other on the court, Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson are in the middle of a heated feud.

Is it 1992 or 2009? I mean seriously, fellas.

In a new book Johnson wrote with Larry Bird, the Lakers point guard says he played a role in keeping Thomas off the 1992 Dream Team.

“Isiah killed his own chances when it came to the Olympics,” Johnson said in the book. “Nobody on that team wanted to play with him. … I’m sad for Isiah. He has alienated so many people in his life, and he still doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand why he wasn’t chosen for that Olympic team and that’s really too bad. You should be aware when you’ve ticked off more than half of the NBA.”

Thomas has long had a history of being disliked in NBA locker rooms, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that nobody wanted to play with him.

But to hear it from a guy who had such a public relationship with Thomas, including exchanging kisses before the 1988 NBA Finals, has to hurt.

“I’m just disappointed and hurt,” Thomas told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I never thought it was him who kept me off the Olympic team. That hurt.”

This is what happens when you’re a jerk to people, Zeke.

On Thursday’s Pardon the Interruption, Boston Globe reporter Jackie MacMullan, who helped write the book with the two NBA legends, discussed the feud.