Metta World Peace near suspension after retroactive flagrant foul

The NBA retroactively penalized Metta World Peace with a flagrant foul during the second half of the Lakers’ loss Monday to the Denver Nuggets.

With the call, World Peace leads the NBA with teammate Dwight Howard with five flagrant foul points. Should either of them commit a flagrant foul type 1 in the remaining 24 regular season games, World Peace and Howard will serve a one-game suspension. A flagrant foul type 2 would result in a two-game suspension. Should the Lakers make the playoffs, the flagrant foul call resets to zero.

World Peace connected with his left elbow to the face of Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried in the final seconds of the third quarter, a play that didn’t prompt any call from the officials. But the NBA upgraded the call upon review.

World Peace has sat out of the Lakers’ win Feb. 5 against the Brooklyn Nets because of a one-game suspension stemmed from his flagrant foul type 1 during the Lakers’ win Feb. 3 against the Detroit Pistons. In that incident, the NBA determined World Peace grabbed the neck of Detroit guard Brandon Knight and struck him in the jaw. Replays show the contact was fairly minor.

Howard last earned a flagrant foul in the Lakers’ win Jan. 13 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. No other Lakers have been called for flagrant fouls this season.

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