Metta World Peace pretends to work at Modell’s Sporting Goods

Most of the expressions seem startled.

The customers saw a tall and strong NBA player that looked like Metta World Peace and talked like World Peace. But the man insisted he is neither World Peace nor Ron Artest.

Instead, he said his name is Panda and he has been named “Employee of the Month” at Modell’s Sporting Goods store in Times Square. It did not appear many believed him considering World Peace’s playful personality, his recognizable figure and the fact he often talked about the NBA with them. But World Peace still attempted to pretend he was someone else as part of Modell’s Undercover Associate series.

World Peace has since agreed to another deal with the Lakers at least to be on their training camp roster. There, he will not be able to confuse anyone about his identity. Nor will he able to sell Steph Curry jerseys, U.S. Olympic hats or basketball shoes. But he likely still make others around him laugh.

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com