David Aldridge has an article up with some new information:
http://www.nba.com/2010/news/01/01/wiza ... ef:nbahpt2While the details are not yet clear, the substance of what was reported Friday by Yahoo! Sports and the New York Post -- that Arenas had a confrontation in the Wizards' locker room late last month with teammate Javaris Crittenton in which both players had guns in their hands -- was confirmed Friday by a league source. The incident, the source said, apparently involved a debt of $25,000 that Arenas owed Crittenton. It is not clear why Arenas supposedly owed Crittenton the money, but the dispute apparently began on a team flight as the Wizards came home the night of Dec. 19, after Washington completed a road trip in Phoenix.
The team had the next day, Sunday the 20th, off, but was back at Verizon Center on Monday, Dec. 21, which is when the incident allegedly occurred. The source indicated that it happened before the team was in the locker room for the scheduled practice, but that there may have been one or more players in the room at the time.
Arenas did not talk to the assembled media Friday, but spoke with me briefly as he left Verizon Center.
After joking "I hear it was the O.K. Corral," Arenas said, "I'll put the real story out in a couple of days. That's not the real story."
Regardless of the details, though, Arenas could be in a world of trouble -- with the District and Federal governments, with the league and with the Wizards -- with the possibility, remote for now but still there, that the team could ultimately seek to void the remainder of his $111 million contract, signed in 2008.
Two sources indicated Friday that Washington, while not actively considering it at this time, would not shy away from at least having internal discussions about voiding the rest of Arenas's contract, which has three years and $67.7 million remaining on it after this season. The team has waited two-plus seasons for Arenas to return from three knee surgeries, and his numbers this season have been very good for someone who's been out of regular action since 2007: 22.7 points, a career-high 6.9 assists and 4.3 rebounds.
But Arenas's teammates, who've tolerated a lot over the past few seasons because of his immense talent, have grown weary of constantly having to answer for or explain his behavior. This latest incident goes well beyond a garden variety "distraction." Said one disgusted teammate on Friday, who stressed that he did not witness the alleged incident: "the locker room is sacred. You're supposed to be safe in there." One source said that Butler, who has struggled to find his way in Saunders's new system, was frustrated by Arenas's inability or unwillingness to get him the ball. But on Friday, Butler said nothing was irretrievably broken between him and Arenas. "We're fine," Butler said. "People always thought it was a situation or something. We haven't had no issues. It was a lot of people that thought it was an issue. I just attacked it head on and asked him a question: 'you don't have no problem with me, do you?' We looked at film together, some of the things I should be doing more of. That was a coach thing, that wasn't a player thing. Like any captain or any leader on a team, we're pushing each other. We want each other to be successful, and in order for us to be successful, me and him both have to playing at high levels, along with Antawn and the rest of the core guys.
"That's all it was. I'm a man about it. I'm not going to go to no media and address it. It was just like, 'all right, all right, well, that's it?' 'Yeah.' 'Okay, we're moving forward.'"
If Washington were to void Arenas's deal, it would suddenly become a player in the celebrated free agent class of 2010. Without Arenas's $17.7 million on the books next season, the Wizards would only have a little less than $38 million committed for the 2010-11 season, including a $2.27 million option Washington holds on the final year of Crittenton's contract. It must be stressed, however, that the team is currently planning to keep Arenas--pending whatever possible penalties he has to endure both from the local and/or state governments, and the NBA.
