In an interview with Jon Gold of The Action Network, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas revealed new details of the infamous 2009 locker room incident between he and former Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton. According to Arenas, it all started after playing a card game called Bourre.
"They figured it out, JaVale [McGee] wins. The plane lands and now Javaris says to JaVale, 'So you just gonna let me lose my money like that? You ain't even gonna be a real n---a and give me a chance to get my money back? Aw hell naw, this is the type of s--t that gets you f--ked up in these streets.' I was like, 'Javaris, I will burn your car, while you're in it. Then we'll find an extinguisher to help ya ass out,' and he says, 'Well, I'll just shoot you then.' I said, 'Man, I'll bring you the guns to shoot me!'"
What happened next: Arenas brought multiple loaded guns into the Wizards locker room in an effort to call Crittenton's bluff. "It was about me calling his bluff," Arenas told Gold. "You say you're going to shoot me? Fine, I'll bring you the guns to do it."
Arenas then told Crittenton to pick his poison, to which Crittenton responded, "Oh no, you don't need to shoot me with one of those. I've got one right here," before pointing a loaded gun at Arenas. The situation was ultimately diffused without further incident and both were banned for the remainder of the season. According to Gold, Arenas explained that the dispute had nothing to do with gambling debts, as legend had it.
"This had nothing to do with gambling debts. It was about the shit-talking while I was losing. It was like someone scoring on you every time down. I'm the designated shit-talker. I could be down $40,000, but if I irritated someone so bad they feel like they lost $20K? I'm happy. I won. I don't feel like the biggest loser of the night."
Arenas was later traded to the Orlando Magic while Crittenton never played in the NBA again and is now serving a 23-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2011 killing of 22-year-old Julian Jones.
You can read the full, in-depth piece here.