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.

The number 37 is for the number of weeks Thriller spent on top of the Billboard Charts.

It’s going to be a loooooong season in Laker Land.

Trevor who?

Just when Laker fans were starting to curse management for letting Trevor Ariza go, free agent forward Ron Artest announced that he’s going to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Artest is taking a paycut to come to Hollyweird, verbally agreeing to a proposed three-year, $18 million contract.

Meanwhile, Trevor Ariza is headed to Houston to replace Artest.

Ron Artest > Trevor Ariza.

Yes, Artest has a couple of screws loose and he’s bound to get into trouble in Los Angeles, but his play on the court more than makes up for the risk.

No knock on Ariza, who developed into a fine role player in the playoffs, but he’s headed to his fourth team in five seasons for a reason.

If the Lakers can find a way to resign Odom to play alongside the fellow New Yorker Artest, get ready for another Championship parade next June.

Ron Artest has officially lost his mind.

During an interview with TNT’s Craig Sager on Wednesday, Artest claimed Portland Trailblazers guard Brandon Roy was the best player he has played against in the NBA.

Better than Kobe.

Better than LeBron.

And for good measure, he takes a cheap shot at Charles Barkley at the end of the clip.

Let’s see how Artest feels about Kobe after the next round of the playoffs, assuming Houston makes it out of the first round.

Ron Artest, what were you thinking?

The feisty Houston Rockets forward got into a heated exchange with the Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, during Wednesday’s Lakers-Rockets game.

How did Bryant respond?

Try 31 second-half points including 18 in the fourth as the Lakers went on to defeat Houston 102-96.

“It wasn’t much of a battle . . . I kicked his . . . ,” Bryant said. “We’ve had some battles in the past and he’s gotten the best of me a few times. [Wednesday], I got the best of him.”

‘Nuff said.

Let that be a lesson for the rest of the NBA.

Ron-Ron has been granted his wish and is leaving Sacramento.

But instead of going to the Lakers, which had been rumored for weeks, Ron Artest is headed to the Houston Rockets.

The 6-foot-7 forward was traded for reserve guard Bobby Jackson, the draft rights to Donte Greene and a first-round draft pick in 2009.

Houston adds one of the league’s premiere players in Artest but has to factor in the baggage that comes with the 20.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

On paper, the trio of Artest, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming is right up there with Boston’s Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

At least one Rocket was happy with the deal:

“I couldn’t be more happy,” Tracy McGrady said, according to KRIV. “Pleased at how the organization is trying to improve this team, get the help that Yao and myself really need to really get to where we want to be and that’s one of the elite teams in this league.

Tracy, they will still blame you if the Rockets can’t get out of the first round of the playoffs.

You’re not off the hook, yet.