WIZARDS MOVE ON AFTER ARENAS BAN

The NBA has suspended Washington Wizards’ guards Gilbert Arenas and Jarvis Crittenton for the remainder of the NBA season.  The two men were involved in a locker room dispute involving guns, reportedly stemming from a gambling debt.  Both men have pled guilty to separate charges of violating the Draconian gun control laws in the District of Columbia, with their sentences still pending.

On Wednesday, Stern released the following statement announcing the punishment:

"The NBA has conducted a thorough investigation of events relating to this matter. It is not disputed that, following an argument on the team's flight home from a game in Phoenix, both Mr. Arenas and Mr. Crittenton brought guns to the Verizon Center locker room and -- with other players and team personnel present or nearby -- displayed them to one another in a continuation of their dispute. The players engaged in this conduct despite a specific rule set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association prohibiting players from possessing a weapon at an NBA facility, and reminders of this prohibition given annually by the NBA to players both in writing and in person.

"The issue here is not about the legal ownership and possession of guns, either in one's home or elsewhere. It is about possession of guns in the NBA workplace, which will not be tolerated"

"I have met separately with Mr. Arenas and with Mr. Crittenton. Both have expressed remorse for their actions and an understanding of the seriousness of their transgressions. Both have volunteered to engage in community service in order to turn the lessons they have learned into an educational message for others. I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and intent to create something positive from this incident.

"Nevertheless, there is no justification for their conduct. Accordingly, I am today converting Mr. Arenas' indefinite suspension without pay to a suspension without pay for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, and am also suspending Mr. Crittenton without pay, effective immediately, for the remainder of the 2009-10 season."

The Wizards responded with the following statement supporting Stern’s decision:

"Their poor judgment has also violated the trust of our fans and stands in contrast to everything Abe Pollin stood for throughout his life. It is widely known that Mr. Pollin took the extraordinary step of changing the team name from 'Bullets' to 'Wizards' in 1997 precisely to express his abhorrence of gun violence in our community. We hope that this negative situation can produce something positive by serving as a reminder that gun violence is a serious issue."

Arenas has already accepted the punishment and indicated that he would not appeal.  He has also instructed the NBA Players Association not to intervene on his behalf in the matter.   Ultimately, it may be more of a proactive financial move than an acceptance of responsibility.  By accepting this punishment is makes it much more legally difficult for the Wizards to terminate the rest of his $111 million contract over this incident.

Now that the team knows that they’ll be without Arenas for the rest of the year, head coach Flip Saunders is trying to get the team to move on:

"We've become at times ... emotionally and mentally worn down. It's almost like a boxer: You continue to take body punches, and eventually what it does, it just wears you down. At least there's some closure, from the standpoint of the team, and trying to put it behind us as best we can. Once you find out and you know, it's easier to say, 'OK, this is where we're at, and this is what we're going to have to do."

The Wizards are 14-30 on the season and have lost 8 of their last 10 games.  They’ve got games on deck this weekend with the New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks, with a home game against the Boston Celtics on Monday night.