As I mentioned earlier today, Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely by NBA commissioner David Stern for his actions over the past couple weeks. News first broke on Christmas Eve, when CBS’ Ken Berger [via NBA Fanhouse] reported that the NBA was investigating Arenas for storing unloaded guns in the Wizards locker room, a violation of the league’s weapon policy. According to NBA Fanhouse’s Tom Ziller, Arenas had the guns in his locker so they wouldn’t be at home.
Arenas claimed he moved his guns from his home to the locker room because after the birth of his daughter, he decided he didn’t want his kids to be around firearms.
The NBA’s weapons policy permits players to own registered firearms, but prohibits possession of any guns on league property or at league-sponsored events. Basically, Gil is allowed to have his guns at home and anywhere else but the arena, which is why the investigation began in the first place. The guns were later reported as unregistered in the District of Columbia, which sports some of the strictest firearm laws in the country.
The situation escalated on New Years Day when Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other over a gambling dispute.
The [New York] Post reported Crittenton became angry at Arenas for refusing to make good on a gambling debt. That prompted Arenas to draw on Crittenton, who then reached for a gun, league security sources told the Post.
Arenas responded to the situation on Twitter before issuing a formal apology [via DC Sports Bog].
Check out Arenas’ responses after the jump…
Tweet: NY post should eject Peter V FROM WRITNG EVERY AGAIN..how do u and ur partner tell 3 stories and all 3 r not true.the blind leadin the blind
Apology: On Monday, December 21st, I took the unloaded guns out in a misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate. Contrary to some press accounts, I never threatened or assaulted anyone with the guns and never pointed them at anyone.
Joke or not, I now recognize that what I did was a mistake and was wrong. I should not have brought the guns to DC in the first place, and I now realize that there’s no such thing as joking around when it comes to guns — even if unloaded.
Gilbert first tried to play the whole situation off as a practical joke, one that he alone saw the humor in. Now, reports are coming out that Crittenton loaded the gun (whether it was actuallyhis or belonged to Arenas, no one is sure), but did not point it at Gilbert.
According to two first-hand accounts of the confrontation, Crittenton responded to Arenas’s action — which included laying the four unloaded weapons in Crittenton’s cubicle with a note that read, “Pick One” — by brandishing his own firearm, loading the gun and chambering a round.
Despite the rumors, Commissioner Stern did not suspend Arenas until yesterday, presumably in response to this picture (also below) that many sites, ours included, featured earlier this week.
Stern’s official statement: “The possession of firearms by an NBA player in an NBA arena is a matter of the utmost concern to us,” Stern said. “Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game.”
A short aside to Gilbert Arenas: We know that David Stern is an avid reader of Detroit4lyfe (he trusts his home page to D4L, you should too), and he probably saw the picture on our site first, so we’re sorry we got you suspended buddy.
There are plenty of responses to the suspension on the web, with more undoubtedly on the way. I’d like to point out two of the best from, unsurprisingly, two of the best: Bethlehem Shoals of The Baseline and Free Darko, and Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie.
Shoals: To paraphrase Avon Barksdale from The Wire, Gil’s just a basketball player, I suppose. And that’s all he should be. Flawed human beings can be great athletes. Yes, flaws can creep into their careers. But just as often, imperfections remain separate from their workplace, or are sublimated into something that has no effect on performance. We don’t watch sports to gain moral instruction, and nothing like the death penalty hangs in the balance when the Wizards suit up.
Dwyer: And professional athletes, as has been proven time and again, year after year, just have no idea how life actually works. It’s not a basketball thing, or an African-American thing, or even an American thing. Follow the Sunday papers for the latest on the various soccer ball-kicking types overseas, if you don’t believe me. Or even the international rulers of open-wheel driving organizations.
It’s an athletic thing. To be handed money for a skill that unique. Something that can be judged by a scoreboard — that fairest and most stagnant level of critique — and not the whims of a record reviewer or a cinema obsessive. The skill is ultra rare, and the money so obscene, but the goal is the same as it was 50 years ago: 25 points per game, a .300 average, 4 under on the back nine.
I don’t really know what to say about the situation from Gilbert’s point-of-view. We’ve always seen him as a bit off, an athlete who craves the spotlight but isn’t 100% self-centered. He’s like Ron Artest, but without all the pent-up rage fans have of him (Artest) jumping into the stands after a guy who was simply trying to share his ice cold beer with the players he idolizes. If Gil thinks that his gun game was all a joke, then he may truly be “not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game.”
I’m not sure how popular this viewpoint will be, but I think Stern was right to suspend Arenas. Maybe us Michiganders just think so because it happened here, but The Brawl is still on the forefront of NBA fans’ minds whenever an act of violence occurs in sports. It’s the gold standard of black eyes for a professional organization. Stern, undoubtedly the best commissioner in sports (which, sadly, doesn’t say much when your competition is Bud Selig and Gary Bettman), is once again acting in the best interest of his league. Yes, he got lucky in the 1980s and ’90s when Magic, Bird, and His Airness took the NBA to unprecedented popularity levels. However in the last 15 years, Stern has had to earn his paycheck.
He handled the Brawl as well as anyone could have planned, bringing the hammer down on those involved (Ron Artest, in particular). He has somehow been able to turn Tim Donaghy’s potentially back-breaking claims of fixed games into fluff material for ESPN to fall back on during slow periods. By running a tighter ship via dress codes, drug testing, and firearm policies, Stern has rebuilt the league’s public image after that unfortunate night in 2004. The league has pushed the marketing of young, (relatively) squeaky-clean stars like LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard onto the public while holding back on those with skeletons in their closets, a la Kobe Bryant and his time in Colorado.
Suspending Gilbert Arenas was a measure that Stern deemed necessary in order to maintain the good will he’s created, while simultaneously sending a message to the rest of the league that guns will not be tolerated. It’s unfortunate that this happened to such a popular player, but Arenas has become the example, the cautionary tale of what happens when a joke is taken too far.
For more feedback on the issue, check out Ball Don’t Lie’s ‘Net Reaction post.
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