You can’t forget Malice at the Palace even if you want to. Several players from both teams were involved in the physical brawl. Held at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan, the matchup was between the Pistons and Pacers. Things got ugly when fans got dragged into it too. Years after the infamous incident, Metta World Peace who was involved in the incident shared what it taught him.

Speaking to Keyshawn Johnson, the retired NBA player stated one shouldn’t react the way the players did back in that time when being hit. “I learn there’s a lot of lessons from that you know from that event. One, you know, if somebody hits you first, you can’t react. That was the biggest,” Metta World Peace said, via All Facts No Brakes.

“The other thing I learned was, um, we were thugs. You know, just you know so and it’s amazing how they work that out because when you look at the situations of urban community, they are set it up for failure not everybody. But it’s set up to fail.” MWP who got the worst hit with suspension for the rest of the season, further stated how these brawls aren’t important enough to ruin or taint a player’s legacy and career.

He said, “The other thing I learned was it’s definitely not worth your career…I would tell anybody you know it’s not worth your legacy.” Not only did the incident affect his reputation but it also resulted in his suspension along with others. The suspension caused him to miss 86 games, out of which 73 were regular season games and 13 were playoff games.

Additionally, 9 more players were suspended while some were arrested. The players lost close to $11.2 million from their salary because of the suspension. Elden Campbell, Derrick Coleman, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Johnson, Reggie Miller, Ben Wallace, Stephen Jackson, and Jermaine O’Neal were the other players who were suspended.

It garnered a lot of controversy. It began with a slight argument when Ben Wallace pushed MWP However, that is not how it ended. While MWP was waiting near the scorer’s table, he was hit by a drink cup thrown by a fan John Green. And as MWP picked a fight with the fan, other Pacers players followed. It was only stopped after police intervention.

Reggie Miller reveals Pacers’ one odd rule for fights

Moreover, the organization took strict action against the players as mentioned above. But why did the rest of the players follow MWP despite knowing the consequences of suspension? Well, a revelation by former Pacers star Reggie Miller shows what could be the reason for it.

During his appearance on The Mark Jackson Show, Miller spoke about the rules for fights that the Pacers had to follow. One of those was to always support and back up their teammates during fights. Hilariously, both Miller and Jackson agreed to fight once without any purpose other than supporting their teammate.

While we are not certain if the Indiana Pacers still follow the rule, it seems to be the reason why the team has always been so tightly bonded.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.