by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
When the public at large learned that Gilbert Arenas had inexplicably stored guns in his locker room at the Verizon Center, I made the bad (but requisite) joke that Gil just wanted to be ready when his team became the Washington Bullets again.
Little did I know at the time that actual gun play took place in the Wizards’ locker room. At least that‘s what the New York Post is reporting today. Thankfully, actual bullets weren’t involved.
Here is the absolutely insane story:
NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and his Washing ton Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other in the team’s locker room during a Christmas Eve dispute over a gambling debt, The Post has learned.
League sources say the pistol-packing point guards had heaters at the ready inside the Verizon Center, the Washington, DC, home of the Wizards — whose name was changed from the Bullets over gun violence concerns. It was the three-time all-star Arenas, 27, who went for his gun first, sources said, drawing on the 22-year-old Crittenton, who quickly brandished a firearm as well.
The duel in DC — unprecedented in sports history — was sparked when Crittenton became enraged at the veteran guard for refusing to make good on a gambling debt, a source said. “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.
As if the crippling hangover from the festivities last night wasn‘t bad enough; now we gotta try and wrap our minds around this. Yikes.
For his part, Arenas doesn‘t appear to be too concerned about any of this, as he Twitters away like a maniac.
Much more on this on Monday, obviously.
