"Shoot me with my gun in front of everybody while they're talking about gun rules and stuff" - Former NBA champion reveals Gilbert Arenas shot him with a BB gun in a team meeting
Gilbert Arenas has a thing with guns. The former NBA player once infamously brought firearms to the Washington Wizards locker room in 2009. The episode is detailed in then-fellow teammate Caron Butler's book, "Tuff Juice: My Journey from the Streets to the NBA." The NBA suspended Arenas for the rest of the 2009-10 season.
However, this wasn't the only incident involving Arenas and a gun. Nick Young, a Washington Wizards guard between 2007 and 2012, detailed another episode where Arenas shot him with a BB gun. Young, a former NBA champion with the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors team, described the event in a recent interview with Vlad TV.
Young explained the context of his relationship with Arenas. He told Vlad TV:
"He [Gilbert Arenas] was trying to be like a big brother to me. When I was down, he would do things to cheer me up. He took me shopping, let me go through his closet. I would steal his shoes and all that."
Young then said Gilbert Arenas once pulled a BB gun on him.
"But one day, like we was pranking, we had a paintball fight at his house, that's when the BB guns came to the locker room," Young said. "We had a paintball fight at his house. I went over there just to hang out, and he ended shooting me with paintball guns. 'I'm going to get you back.'"
“My dumba– ended up bringing the BB gun to the gym just to scare him, just to play around with him. But it was a gun, an NBA gun rule meeting. So, I’m in the meeting and Gil go into my locker room, take my gun, come into the guns meeting, shoot me with my gun in front of everybody while they’re talking about gun rules and stuff. … Nobody said nothing.”
You can watch Young narrate the episode from the 1:23 mark in the video below:
Gilbert Arenas, a cautionary tale about lost NBA talent
The latest revelation by Nick Young about Gilbert Arenas does not come as a surprise. Arenas is a cautionary tale about lost NBA talent.
Arenas was drafted 31st overall by the Golden State Warriors. He made a significant leap in his second season, averaging 18.3 points and 6.3 assists per game. His play was a distinct improvement from the 10.9 ppg and 3.7 apg he averaged in his rookie season. He earned the 2002-03 Most Improved Player honor for the leap.
Arenas became a three-time All-Star, finishing among the top-five scorers in the league in 2006 and 2007. He was also named to the All-NBA team on three occasions between 2005 and 2007.
Eventually, though, Arenas turned out to be his worst enemy. The gun incident in the Washington Wizards locker room in December 2009 derailed his career.