NBA star was banned after 'pulling loaded gun on teammate' in bizarre locker room incident

When two NBA teammates got into an argument over a card game, it led to both bringing guns to the locker room and both being suspended.

Gilbert Arenas was a three-time All-Star during his 11-year NBA career. A gifted scorer best known for his seven season with the Washington Wizards, the shooting guard retired in 2013 and has recently re-emerged as one of the most outspoken former stars in the basketball media, launching his own podcast in 2023.

That same year, in an interview with DJ Vlad, Arenas opened up about an incident in 2009 that saw he and Wizards colleague Javaris Crittenton landing hefty suspensions.

The pair got into an argument over supposed gambling debts stemming from team card games and, in the locker room at the Wizards' Verizon Center home arena, pulled guns on each other after the confrontation escalated.

"This sh*t was little," Arenas recalled. "It was little, because I said, 'What is that? Is that the gun from Harlem's Night? Man, put that little sh*t away bro. I'm giving you big people sh*t right there, put that little gun away.'"

LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas

Brushing off the incident, Arenas insisted that it was not uncommon for guns to be brought to the team's practice facility. And that his altercation with Crittenton was not the first time he'd pulled a firearm on a teammate.

"The reason it's hard for the outside world to really understand like, 'Guns in the locker room, guns at work,'" He said. "Technically yes, but technically no because it's our building, it's the safest building for us. That is actually safer than our homes 'cause there's security.

"Usually, jewellery, guns are there, not the house. The clubs are downtown; the gym is downtown, so the chances of us getting stopped with a gun is high – you know, back then there was really no security guards like that –– so what players would do they would drive from home, drive to the arena, put their guns in the locker room, go to the club, and then from the club, go to the arena, get their guns, and then go back home.

"I've had f****** paintball and BB guns shootouts in our locker room. I'm older now, I've pointed guns at teammates before. I just had it, it was my rookie season. One of my teammates, you know rookie hazing, they tied me and threw me in a bucket and I rushed home to get my gone. I said, 'Try that sh*t again.' And they did. They whooped my ass again."

For the incident with Crittenton, Arenas and his teammate were suspended by NBA commissioner David Stern for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, a period of around four months.