Gilbert Arenas Out Indefinitely

Washington Wizard's player Gibert Arenas recently got tangled up in some drama when word got around that he pulled a gun on a teammate in the locker room. As more details came out however, it seems as though the entire scene was actually a poor joke on the part of Arenas and that the only reason the guns were in his locker in the first place were to keep them away from his family, stating that he no longer felt the need to have them in his home. It should also be noted that the guns were unloaded.

Arenas now not only faces jail time, as he was charged with a felony in relation to this situation, but has been suspended indefinitely and without pay by David Stern and the NBA and is now also looking at possibly losing his six-year $111 million contract with the Wizards.

Arenas obviously made a mistake in not only holding guns in his locker in the team locker room but in pulling one on his teammate, but is his punishment a little too harsh? Should a bad joke really be taken so seriously?

In my opinion yes and no. On the one hand I recognize the seriousness that comes with guns and gun play and have read way too many stories about things going terribly wrong when guns are brought into the picture to ever condone people running wild with them. However, on the other hand, the guns were unloaded and it is clear that Arenas meant to cause no harm to anyone, so it pains me to see him have to leave the game and possibly even go to jail.

Before this season I rarely followed the Wizards but having seen a good amount of games recently as well as following Arenas on Twitter and watching some of his interviews, I'm a big fan of him, both as a player and a person. Of course one can never really know the truth about someone over a medium like television or a social networking site but from what I do know and from what I have seen, he seems like hard worker when on the court and a jokester in his personal life; overall not someone who would ever be caught up in such a scandal. And because of this, my heart goes out to him.

I understand the NBA could not turn their cheek to this type of event but I only hope that as this situation progresses, eventually Arenas will be allowed to return tothe league and will be able to put this all behind him. Yes hes in a league with a strict set of rules but it cannot go without sayng that he is only human and everyone makes mistakes. Best of luck to you Gilbert. I'll be waiting on your return.