Arenas: Gun standoff with Crittenton was over trash talk during card game
It wasn't a gambling debt, but trash talking during booray that led to the infamous 2009 standoff involving former Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton.
Arenas told the Action Network's Jon Gold that he joined a card game in progress during a team flight when Crittenton was experiencing a cold streak.
"I’m talking my good old s---," said Arenas. "'Oh yeah baby, don’t fall asleep now.' When anyone was getting killed, I’d hit the stewardess button. ‘Oh no, we have a jumper. Tell the pilot! We have a jumper, people!’ And Javaris is 1,000 degrees hot.
"But everyone knows my style. I’m gonna keep poking. I want you f---ed up. I flip over a 10 (of spades, establishing the trump card). Oh s---, we live baby! Ain’t no deuces over here!"
Crittenton, upset over losing so much money, lashed out at JaVale McGee as the plane was landing, pleading with the big man to give him an opportunity to win it back. This prompted Arenas to interject himself.
"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,'" Arenas added. "And he says, 'Well, I'll just shoot you then.' I said, 'Man, I'll bring you the guns to shoot me!'"
Two days later, "Agent Zero" brought four unloaded guns into the Wizards' locker room as a joke, including a Smith & Wesson Model 29.
"It was about me calling his bluff," Arenas said. "You say you’re going to shoot me? Fine, I’ll bring you the guns to do it."
In response, Crittenton pulled out a loaded gun of his own, cocked it, and directed it at the three-time All-Star guard, which cleared out the room.
Both players were suspended for the remainder of the season as a result of their actions, with Washington trading Arenas the following year to the Orlando Magic. Arenas was also sentenced to two years of supervised probation for bringing firearms into the locker room, as well as 30 days in a halfway house and 400 hours of community service.
"It was about the s--- talking while I was losing," said Arenas of what spurred the incident. "It was like someone scoring on you every time down. I'm the designated s--- 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."
Crittenton is currently serving a 23-year sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter of a mother of four in 2015.