The Washington Bullets, errrr, Wizards are the biggest fans of the morning 'Shoot around' of all teams in the NBA. Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton of the Washington Wizards have been implicated in a clubhouse dispute over a gambling debt where the two apparently pulled guns on each other. There was an investigation before this incident that Arenas was housing firearms in his locker at the Verizon Center. If any investigation finds that these allegations are true there is a good chance that they will face a stiff penalty from the league, likely a suspension of at least a few dozen games. The NBA under commissioner David Stern has worked overtime to clean up its image which is that it is more of a thug league and that there are severe character issues among a large number of its members.Players may contest that they are targets more now then ever and they need these weapons for personal safety. Granted, with there position in society that they are held in a different regard but one must also take into account that if you are putting yourself in a bad position things can go the wrong way in a hurry. You would think the safest place should be the locker room, will all the building security and that security around the locker room that that would be the last place you would need to store your guns.
What makes this story just a little bit more funny is the team that they play for. It has been a while now but this was a team that had the name of the Washington Bullets but the owner thought that it sent a bad message to the league and its fans. Washington, DC has been known to be a violent city and this was a way of trying to distance themselves from rising gun violence. In one "foul" swoop all the good will of becoming the Wizards has just turned them back into the Bullets. Maybe it was throwback night and they got caught up in the festivities.
Arenas has tried to defuse the situation with humour implying it was all in jest and he was just a practical joker and nothing more then a joke went down. The NBA and other officials don’t seem to be buying into that explanation even if it was in jest it is a serious issue and at the very least relay bad PR for a league that is trying to project a positive image for itself.
