The NBA should suspend Gilbert Arenas. It should be swift and harsh. And it should happen regardless of the legal consequences levied against the star point guard.
Arenas is facing a grand jury investigation over an incident in which he either brandished handguns in the team locker room or placed them on a chair as part of a bad joke. That part of the story is in question. What isn’t in question is that by bringing the guns to Verizon Center, Arenas broke NBA rules stemming from the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Players are subject to discipline if they bring guns to the arena, practice facility or offsite promotional appearance. Arenas, who said he moved the unloaded firearms out of his Virginia home and into his locker to keep them away from his young children, violated this rule the second he walked into Verizon Center with them on his person.
There’s no gray area here. And no need for interpretation. Regardless of his intentions — and regardless of the legal ramifications — Arenas acted foolishly and knowingly broke a league rule. What should come next from NBA commissioner David Stern is a heavy suspension and fine.
The league, however, is waiting for the ongoing investigation to play out. This is a predictable, yet unnecessary, decision. Stern likely will remain in a holding pattern until Arenas’ legal fate is determined, as he did in 2007 with Stephen Jackson, who was suspended for seven games after pleading guilty to a felony count of criminal recklessness for firing a gun outside of a strip club.
Still, Stern doesn’t need to wait. Nor should he. Forget the Jackson incident and forget the Plaxico Burress episode during the 2008 NFL regular season. Those events did not occur on team property. This one did. There’s also the case of Arenas already having a gun infraction while in the NBA. In 2003, police in San Francisco found a .40-caliber handgun in the back seat of Arenas’ car. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges. The league suspended him for one game.
This time the punishment from the NBA should be harsher. The violation occurred on team property and involved a player previously penalized by the league for a gun-related incident. The NBA should send a clear message that regardless of legal ramifications, gun possession violating league rules will not be tolerated. There’s a time for waiting and a time for action, and for the NBA, the time for waiting has passed.
James Irwin is The Washington Examiner sports editor. Reach him at [email protected].
