Caron Butler’s inside account of when two NBA stars brought guns to training

OF ALL the wild moments in NBA history, two teammates bringing guns to practice to settle a debt is one of the craziest.

OF ALL the wild moments in NBA history, the day Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton brought guns to the locker room to settle a gambling dispute has to rate as one of the craziest.

For the first time it’s been revealed what exactly went down that day in December, 2009, and what caused the confrontation.

The Washington Post has printed an excerpt from former Wizard Caron Butler’s new book Tuff Juice: My Journey from the Streets to the NBA, which offers incredible detail of the incident that saw both players suspended for the rest of that season and face charges in court.

The drama began on a flight back from a game in Phoenix when Arenas and Crittenton were playing cards. Despite Crittenton’s objections, Arenas scooped up an $1100 pile of cash sitting on the table and refused to give it back.

“I ain’t putting (expletive) back,” said Arenas, according to Butler’s recollection. “Get it the way Tyson got the title. Might or fight or whatever you got to do to get your money back. Otherwise, you ain’t gettin’ it.”

The pair had to be separated by teammates when Crittenton lunged at Arenas. They continued to argue as the team exited the plane and then the threats got serious, according to Butler’s book.

“I’ll see your (expletive) at practice and you know what I do,” Gilbert said.

“What the (expletive) you mean, you know what I do?” replied Javaris.

“I play with guns.”

“Well I play with guns, too.”

Gilbert Arenas was the Wizards’ star player in 2009.

Two days later, the Wizards had practice at the Verizon Centre. Butler entered the locker room to find both men had delivered on their promise to come armed.

Arenas told Crittenton to pick one of the four guns he had displayed in front of his locker. But Crittenton didn’t blink, drawing his own weapon — which was loaded — and pointing it directly at his team’s star player.

“Other players who had been casually arriving, laughing and joking with each other, came to a sudden halt, their eyes bugging out,” Butler wrote. “It took them only a few seconds to realise this was for real, a shootaround of a whole different nature. They all looked at eachother and then they ran, the last man out locking the door behind him.”

While those outside the locker room called 911, Butler was able to calm Crittenton down and get him to lower his weapon.

Javaris Crittenton was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanour gun charge.

Perhaps the most staggering aspect of the whole dispute was the fact Arenas was in the second year of a $111 million six-year contract at the time.

He refused to give back $1100 but when both players were suspended for the remainder of the season it cost him $7.5 million in lost wages.

The duo also had to face court. Arenas was charged with carrying an unlicensed pistol outside a home or business and sentenced to two years probation and 30 days in a halfway house. Crittenton escaped with a lighter penalty, receiving one year of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanour gun possession charge.

The incident ruined both men’s careers and was a sign of worse times to come.

Arenas went from one of the league’s top shooting guards to an unwanted hassle and after short stints in Orlando and Memphis was out of the league by 2012. His personal life has become fodder for gossip websites, including a recent TMZ report that claimed he is suing the mother of one of his children for wrongly suggesting he has sexually transmitted diseases.

Crittenton is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter in relation to the death of a 22-year-old mother-of-four in Atlanta in 2011. Prosecutors said the shooting was gang-related and retaliation against a person Crittenton believed had robbed him.

But the now 27-year-old said he only intended to scare someone and was heartbroken when he learned he had killed a woman, Julian Jones.

Originally published as Caron Butler’s inside account of when two NBA stars brought guns to training