NBA Capsules: Arenas meets with authorities on guns in locker
WASHINGTON — Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas says he took unloaded guns from his locker in a "misguided effort to play a joke" on a teammate.
Arenas released a written statement Monday after meeting with law enforcement officials. And Arenas' lawyer says the player voluntarily met with prosecutors and detectives and answered every question during a two-hour interview.
In his statement, Arenas repeated his earlier assertion that he brought four guns to the Verizon Center to store in his locker in order to get them out of his house and away from his children. He said he mistakenly believed that recent changes in D.C. law made it legal for him to store unloaded guns there.
Arenas said he took the unloaded guns out of his locker on Dec. 21 "in a misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate." He denied threatening or assaulting anyone. The New York Post has reported that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other.
"Joke or not, I now recognize that what I did was a mistake and was wrong," Arenas said. "I should not have brought the guns to DC in the first place, and I now realize that there's no such thing as joking around when it comes to guns — even if unloaded."
Two officials within the league who have been briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on Saturday that the incident stemmed from a dispute over card-playing gambling debts and a heated discussion in the locker room.
The other player involved is Javaris Crittenton. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, said earlier Monday that his client did nothing wrong.
It was unclear whether Crittenton also planned to meet with authorities about the incident. His lawyer, Peter White, is on vacation and said he would not be at any meetings Monday or Tuesday.
Arenas also apologized for his actions in the statement.
"I am very sorry for the effect that my serious lapse in judgment has had on my team, my teammates, the National Basketball Association and its fans," Arenas said. "I want to apologize to everybody for letting them down with my conduct, and I promise to do better in the future."
NBA commissioner David Stern likely will wait until the legal process is complete before handing down penalties, but he could rule on Arenas now since league rules were broken in that instance.
At the NBA's request, the firearms language was bolstered during collective bargaining in 2005. Players are subject to discipline if they bring guns to the arena or practice facility, or even an offsite promotional appearance.
NBA players say owning guns is OK, if done legally
Not only have David Stern's pleas to leave the guns at home been ignored, one player even brought his to work.
The commissioner could hand Gilbert Arenas a severe punishment whenever he decides to take action, but it seems clear Stern can't convince NBA players not to carry firearms.
As far as they're concerned, players have the right — and maybe even the need — to own weapons, as long as they're doing it legally.
"We're grown men. We protect our families. We protect our homes," said Knicks guard Larry Hughes, who isn't licensed to own a gun. "Whatever the case may be, whoever is bearing arms, I hope everything is done, you know, legally, but you have that right."
Arenas violated NBA rules by bringing guns to the Verizon Center locker room — The New York Post reported he and Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton drew on each other there — but he's far from the only player owning weapons.
New Jersey Nets guard Devin Harris told reporters he believed as many as 75 percent of the league's players own guns.
"I don't know because I don't know every guy in the NBA. I don't know what every guy personally has," Indiana Pacers guard T.J. Ford said. "As a society, I think a lot of people have protection within their home. But I don't think it's just an NBA thing. It's just a lot of regular people have protection in their home.
"Obviously it's not a problem if you have a license to carry a weapon. I think that's the ultimate key. If you have a license, can't nobody dispute the reason why you have a gun."
Ford owns a gun but said he doesn't carry it outside his home, a policy Stern prefers all players take. The commissioner called the issue of players carrying guns an "alarming subject" in October 2006, adding "that although you'll read players saying how they feel safer with guns, in fact those guns actually make them less safe."
That came about three weeks after Stephen Jackson, then with the Indiana Pacers, shot a gun in the air outside an Indianapolis strip club, telling police it was in self defense.
Knicks president Donnie Walsh was running the Pacers then, and he shares Stern's concerns about players traveling with guns.
"It's definitely something the league has directed itself to because they feel it is a problem. And if you look around, there's different instances where you find out it is a problem," Walsh said. "It's an issue. And normally I'm not for guns or against guns, but pro players, I think they put themselves in a tough position."
Jackson said he stopped carrying a gun after the trouble it caused. Former teammate Al Harrington, who keeps guns at his home but said they aren't loaded, suspects there are some players who still go out with them, but added they should travel with security instead.
LeBron James said he doesn't even need that, but makes certain his family is protected.
"I live in Akron, Ohio, which is my hometown, so I don't need security," said James, who didn't say if he owned a gun. "I don't travel with security. Only thing I do is continue to make sure my family is always safe."
Many players apparently feel that's best done with a gun. When Scottie Pippen was arrested in 1994 for having a loaded semiautomatic pistol in his car in Chicago, coach Phil Jackson talked to his Bulls players and found that "quite a few" had guns.
So he discussed with them, as he's done with the Lakers, the rules of owning and registering guns, but still believes players will carry them no matter what.
"I have the sense that this is an environment that's come out of a lot of the kids' past," Jackson said. "Not only that, they've had situations that have happened in their own personal lives that makes them feel that it warrants it, but my message is it attracts violence. There's no doubt about it, and the violence that happens around guns is death usually."
Still, Stern could hand out multiple punishments for carrying guns. Besides the Arenas situation, the league is also monitoring the case involving Cleveland's Delonte West, who was arrested in Maryland after officers pulled him over for speeding on a motorcycle while carrying two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun in a guitar case.
Stern will likely wait until the legal process is complete before handing down penalties, but he could rule on Arenas now since league rules were broken in that instance.
At the NBA's request, the firearms language was bolstered during collective bargaining in 2005. Players are subject to discipline if they bring guns to the arena or practice facility, or even an offsite promotional appearance. The league's rookie transition program also includes a segment on possessing weapons.
Walsh said when it comes to players going out with guns: "You don't need them, and if you have them, you have a better chance of something happening then if you don't have them."
But Ford says, "You can't tell somebody how to protect their family."
"It's not an athlete thing, it's just a family thing," he added. "There's a lot of people that have weapons. I don't think they should be making it like it's just athletes that have weapons."
-- Brian Mahoney
Commentary: Arenas' practical joke backfiring on him and NBA
What apparently began as a practical joke would have turned out a lot funnier if only Gilbert Arenas brought a squirt gun to work instead of the real thing.
Now there's no laughing it off.
The Wizards star is scheduled to meet Monday with law-enforcement authorities to present his side of the story about a locker-room dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton nearly two weeks ago. Not only does Washington, D.C., have some of the strictest handgun laws in the nation, but federal authorities are investigating as well.
Yet even if Arenas' legal headaches end there, he still could face a lengthy suspension from NBA commissioner David Stern and tempt the Wizards to invoke a morals clause in the standard NBA player contract and seek to void the remainder of a six-year, $111 million deal signed in 2008.
"I know Gilbert is a good guy," Pacers guard T.J. Ford said. "I don't think, like he said in his statement, that he was trying to hurt anybody."
Probably not.
But Arenas has already tarnished his image as one of pro basketball's more entertaining and eccentric personalities, and put the league on the spot. The NBA's gun culture is no more prevalent than that of other leagues, nor the population in general, yet every time an athlete gets caught with a weapon, the publicity feeds the public notion that officials are incapable of policing their players.
That perception, in part, led to the NBA's toughened antigun stance in the collective bargaining agreement, which bars league personnel from bringing weapons to league property, sites or charitable events.
Arenas has already admitted bringing three unloaded firearms to the Verizon Center — to get them out of the house and away from his kids — and storing them in a locked container. According to Yahoo! Sports, he took them out of the container before a Dec. 21 practice and laid the guns on a chair, then told Crittenton to choose one and make good on a threat that stemmed from a card game on a late-night flight from Phoenix back to Washington two days earlier.
As the game got more expensive, Crittenton joked about what could happen to people who didn't honor their debts. Arenas has a well-deserved reputation as a prankster and laying out the guns apparently was his way of trying to diffuse any lingering tension between the two.
Instead, the gesture enraged Crittenton. According to a New York Post report, Arenas and Crittenton wound up drawing guns on each other.
"I can't speak on that," Arenas said Saturday. "But if you know me, you've been here, I've never did anything (involving) violence. Anything I do is funny — well, it's funny to me."
Asked if the accounts of what happened have been blown out of proportion, Arenas laughed and said: "A little."
His standing with the Wizards was already shaky. Arenas missed almost two seasons because of knee surgery, and his problems with former coach Eddie Jordan have only exacerbated under new coach Flip Saunders. Arenas' production barely justified his selfishness in seasons past, but he hardly resembles the scorer he was then.
Teammates who tolerated Arenas once now find him frustrating.
His defenders say the needling, as well as the need to laugh everything off, is Arenas' way of coping — with insecurity, a tough childhood and being overlooked at the start of both his college and pro careers.
"I'm a goof ball and that's what I am, so even doing something like this, I'm going to make fun of it and that's how I am," Arenas said. "Some people say I'm not taking it serious, but why be depressed at home when I can just make myself laugh?"
The problem with gunplay, though, is that it's never funny and that a casual attitude toward violence only encourages more of the same. Arenas has already been suspended once, after pleading no contest to misdemeanor weapons and vehicle charges following a traffic stop in California 2003; he sat out Washington's season opener in 2004.
No matter how this latest incident is handled by authorities, Arenas should know better than to expect leniency this time around.
Another former NBA player got off easy the first time he, too, was charged with a weapons violation, lecturing schoolkids and taking out ads in the local newspaper touting gun safety.
His name is Jayson Williams. As you read this, he is scheduled to be retried on a reckless manslaughter charge in the shooting death of a limousine driver during a party at his home.
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org
Elswehere
Hollins named Western Conference coach of December
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins has been named the NBA's Western Conference coach of the month for Memphis' sizzling December.
The NBA announced the honor Monday, and it's the first of Hollins' coaching career.
He led the Grizzlies to a 9-4 record that was second only to the Lakers' 12-3 mark. It was the best winning percentage for Memphis in December and the sixth-best record in a month in the franchise's 15-year history.
Hollins is coaching the NBA's youngest team to a rebound after a 1-8 start. The Grizzlies have won six of their last seven games.
Hubie Brown and Mike Fratello each won this award twice while coaching the Grizzlies.
Tests confirm Lakers' Gasol has strained hamstring
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol has a mild to moderate strained left hamstring and is doubtful for Tuesday night's game against Houston.
The Lakers said Monday that Gasol was examined by the team doctor and an ultrasound test and MRI showed the strain he sustained in Sunday night's win over the Dallas Mavericks. He started and played seven minutes before leaving the game.
Gasol is listed as day-to-day.
He missed the season's first 11 games with a strained right hamstring.
Heat C Jermaine O'Neal misses game against Hawks
MIAMI — Heat center Jermaine O'Neal is out of the lineup against the Atlanta Hawks with a strained groin and hip flexor.
It's the fourth time O'Neal has missed a game this season, although two of those were to attend a family funeral. Joel Anthony started Monday night in place of O'Neal, who has been bothered by soreness in the groin and hip for about two weeks.
O'Neal is Miami's third-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game and second-leading rebounder at 6.9 per game.
The Heat are hopeful O'Neal could return Wednesday when Miami hosts Boston.
Trail Blazers recall Mills from NBADL
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers have recalled rookie guard Patrick Mills from the NBA Development League's Idaho Stampede.
Mills was assigned to the Stampede on Dec. 29, and had 38 points and 12 assists in his debut on New Year's Day. He scored 22 points against the Reno Bighorns on Sunday, and his put-back with 1.2 seconds left gave the Stampede a 109-108 win.
The Trail Blazers announced the move late Sunday on their Web site.
Mills, who broke his right foot during practice for the NBA Summer League, was the No. 55 overall pick in the 2009 draft after a standout career at St. Mary's. He's expected to join the Trail Blazers in time for Monday's game at the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bucks request waivers on Ukic
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on Roko Ukic, saying the guard asked to have his contract voided so he can pursue other playing opportunities.
In 13 games for the Bucks this season, Ukic averaged 3.1 points in 7.5 minutes per game. He and Carlos Delfino were acquired from Toronto in an offseason trade for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems.
The Bucks roster now stands at 14 players.
