Devin Booker's comments about being double-teamed during a pickup game has sparked a debate that has now been going on for days.
In short, Booker thinks it's BS when he gets doubled during the open runs, something that fellow NBA stars Trae Young and Kevin Durant seem to agree with. Meanwhile, Book has received plenty of criticism for complaining about the added attention on defense.
The latest to chime in is former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, a man who never had a problem with shooting over a double, or triple, team. Arenas took to instagram on Wednesday night to share his thoughts on the matter, which included a photo of himself surrounded by defenders during his second season in the league.
The lengthy caption reads in part:
"if u wanna be an all star then ur complaint is correct BUT if u wanna be a superstar...u accept double teams in pickup..u demand double teams in pickup"
"u should be offended when u don't get double teamed in pickups and the reason is...if u get doubled teamed in the nba how dare some pickup ball cats don't respect ur game enough to double u"
Booker responded to the IG post, explaining that he grew up playing against 30-year olds that would punish him on the block without any help from his teammates. Says Book, "So every time I played open gym the rest of my life it's a eat or be eaten mentality."
"I didn't want to spend my lovely Tuesday afternoon passing out of a double, I can work on that with the homies at the house. Much respect tho hibachi. Let's get in the gym at some point."
Check out a screenshot of their convo in the tweet embedded below, followed by Agent Zero's IG post.