When the news came down last week that the League was investigating Gilbert Arenas for bringing a gun to team facilities, I joked that he needed it for protection from teammate Caron Butler. Even though I was only joking in my post, it turns out it wasn’t too far from the truth. Yahoo! Sports reported that Gilbert was being investigated for pulling the gun on a teammate while the New York Post takes things a step further saying it was over a gambling debt:
“I’m not your punk!” Crittenton shouted at Arenas, according to a league source close to the Wizards. That prompted Arenas to draw on Crittenton, who then also grabbed for a gun, league security sources said.
A playground pal of Crittenton’s from Atlanta, Kendrick “Bookie Ball” Long, confirmed the locker-room standoff and said he learned of it directly from the third-year player out of Georgia Tech. “He [Arenas] was f- – -ing with him; he [Crittenton] was just defending himself!” declared Long, who said the dispute was over money but would not elaborate.
I wonder how much money is at stake here if the dudes are brandishing firearms considering Gilbert has made over $100 million in his career. I’m guessing it’s more over principle than a lofty dollar figure given Gilbert’s wealth. This story sounds much more like the truth and renders Gilbert’s tale laughable — Arenas said he wanted to get rid of the guns after his daughter was born. If that were the case, why didn’t he take them directly to the police without passing Go and without letting Crittenton try to collect $500? This makes me wonder what the NBA will do to try and curb gambling amongst teammates; some of the stories about high stakes card games on team planes are legendary and it’s clear things are getting out of hand in DC. I’m also guessing DC police will want to know more about this story too.
