Gilbert Arenas was a lethal trigger man on the court. He had a quick release and an almost infinite shot range. But in December of 2009, he was a self-proclaimed trigger man off the court. Arenas’ former Washington Wizards teammate, Caron Butler, just released his autobiography and talks about the locker-room incident that Rick Ross famously rapped about. Yes, the gun-slinging showdown brought drama NBA fans hadn’t read about since the 2001 Portland ‘Jail Blazers’.
The excerpt really dissects Gilbert Arenas as a person. At the time, “Agent Zero” had over $100 million in the bank and was fighting over one thousand dollars – cookie crumbs in comparison. Arenas and the ‘09 Wizards really did have a chance at making the playoffs and really did have a chance at being really good for years to come. The Wiz bolstered a lineup featuring Antawn Jamison (in his prime) at the four spot, the excerpt dropper himself, Caron Butler, at the wing along with young guns (no pun intended) Nick ‘not so swaggy yet’ Young and Javaris Crittenton. Still, after a mere thousand dollar card game, Arenas decided that gambling not only his, but the entire organization’s future away was worth it so he could be featured in a rap songs and claim money that he would’ve made just by stepping on to the court for 5 minutes. Butler described Arenas’ behaviour as a “dominating presence.” Team president Ernie Grunfeld had to beg Butler to “talk to them.” Head coach at the time Flip Saunders “was too scared to even come into the locker room.” That’s how much power Gilbert Arenas had over the franchise, that’s how much power he let slip through his fingers into the gutters as he stared down the barrel of Crittenton’s gun.
The victim of Arenas’ cheapskate vendetta, Crittenton, is now serving 23 years in prison for murder charges involving, you guessed it, guns. Gilbert Arenas’ perception of himself vanished as he followed up his tremendously gangster-like career with Washington with a diminished role player spot on an Orlando Magic team he failed to help make any playoff noise. The Washington Wizards at the time were slowly dismantled and are only now recovering from the act that caused both Arenas and Crittenton to be suspended along with the rest of the team being distracted while they were man handled by lesser Cleveland Cavaliers team that year. Butler knew what his former teammate was thinking. “I went too far. I had a gun pointed at me and it was loaded.” Gilbert Arenas had lost every bit of his dominating presence.
UPDATE: Gilbert Arenas recently fired back on Instagram, giving his own version of what happened.
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Gregory Chow 