Gilbert Arenas suspended indefinitely by David Stern (Updating constantly)

I guess David Stern reads Arenas’ twits…… saw the “gun-slinging” picture from before last night’s game… and heard Gilbert’s “no remorse” interview after…

Like, seriously, Stern doesnt know what we think of the Cavaliers? And the Songaila suspension years ago?

Telfair brought a LOADED gun on a team Plane !!!

ongoing conduct? So making light of the situation and joking with teammates makes you unfit?

The investigation/case is going to go on for a long time. This probably means Arenas is out for quite a while.

How is it that West is playing but Arenas isn’t?

Stern sucks. Always has. Always will.

I did not foresee this. I’m not excusing Gilbert at all, ESPECIALLY for the pre0game performance (which I missed), but this is a huge over reaction. What happens IF the grand jury drops the case? Stern is developing a god complex.

Delonte West is in very, very big trouble then?

YOu dont miss someone until they are Gone … dammit Gil was getting his swag back to and we would of been at full force tonight in a playoff type of test dammmmmmmit

It’s not fair. Well, I actually believe 99% of “indefinite suspensions” aren’t fair, but this isn’t fair for other reasons. I’ll just take the easiest and most recent: Stephen Jackson. Sure, SJ didn’t carry an unloaded gun onto league property. So what? Guns are not inherently bad to the point that mere possession of an unloaded firearm is a malicious or wrongful act. However, firing off a gun in the middle of the night outside a strip club in a crazy, reckless, and probably drunken manner is bad. Gilbert gets indefinite suspension for the former before the facts are even calcified while SJ gets 7 games a YEAR after his bad act.

Stern’s I-am-god-of-my-little-world act is getting harder to swallow with each new edict.

He’s not (yet) suspended for the guns. But he is suspended for making light of it. Obviously Stern feels like Gilbert disrespected him. That is a bad way to exercise your power, Stern.

Although a totally different situation, It reminds me in some ways of Crawford tossing Duncan for laughing on the sideline.

about this is that nobody outside of DC cares about the Wizards. Stern can use Arenas to make a statement without having to worry about public outcry. If this happened to Lebron, Wade, or Kobe, he would’ve had to be a lot more careful so as not to alienate a much larger contingent of NBA fans.

I normally like the Mafia Don Stern shtick he plays, but this is ridiculous, he could have chewed him out in his office and made Arenas do a mea culpa tour and suspended him for only a few games. I HATE public examples, they are unjust.

under the rules, Stern had the authority to suspend Arenas for bringing guns on NBA property. He chose not to suspend him because all of the facts had not come to light.

 Now, because of Arenas’ admittedly stupid behavior last night, Stern suspends him indefinitely without pay. Do the NBA rules say the commissioner can suspend a player for "taunting’ the commissioner?

Heat fan here. Sorry to hear about the news. I hate to come off as selfish but Im about to cut arenas off my fantasy squad. I was gonna pick up foye till I looked at his bland numbers. Who will be starting for ol gil?

Am I concerned that Stern seemed to make his decision based as much off Arenas’ conduct after the act than the act itself? Yeah, a bit. You’d wish that wasn’t the case.

Why? Stern cares about the integrity of the league and Gil ridiculed, irrespective of whether it was indirectly or not, the league and its policies.

Gilbert is just a moron; Arenas thought that he was in the right because, to him, the actuality of only having four unloaded guns in the locker room was better than the rumor of two players pointing loaded weapons at each other.

Arenas didn’t repeatedly apologize, which is fine, but to then go ahead and continually make jokes about the situation, even if it isn’t “wrong,” is absurdly stupid from Gil’s perspective.

It’s clear that Arenas wasn’t going to be remotely close to living up to his contract, so hopefully this is a blessing and we can void his remaining cash, and begin the rebuilding process.

if i were Gilbert Arena’s lawyer, I’d recommend that he file a lawsuit against Stern and the NBA. Seriously. Stupid and immature behavior is not grounds for indefinite suspension. The Players Union ought to do the same. Stern’s actions might also influence the current grand jury investigation.

Well shit, if we can’t void the contract and he can’t play for us, what do we have?

and spend a year away living a peaceful, simple life. ganga optional. just get away and re-evaluate things.

Stern probably would like to ride it out, and then issue his suspension later when no one cares anymore.

I’ll disagree.

Not only is stern a power-whore, as is evidenced by his continued micromanagement, but he also wants to salvage the reputation of the NBA.

In order to keep the league “clean,” it is in Stern’s benefit to come down hard on a player and send a message; the reason Stern didn’t do this before was because his case would be much stronger against Gil with legal precedent, however Arenas took the issue into his own hands and gave Stern every reason to sideline the nuisance of Gilbert Arenas.

If, however, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (responsible for prosecuting crimes in the District of Columbia because D.C. does not possess statehood and its own prosecutorial agency) goes for the home run indictment, which all indications point to them doing, they will attempt to get a grand jury to indict Agent Zero for a violation of the second statute listed above for each weapon, which is Arenas’ “doomsday scenario.” If such an indictment comes down from the grand jury, Arenas would be looking at a four-count felony indictment seeking a $20,000 fine and/or 20 years in prison.

I’m a Sonics fan, so I hate the man, but he’s reactionary, petty and far too easily offended for me to take seriously.

Gil stands to lose absolutely everything from this incident, so although he may think of his actions as “not that bad,” it is 100% in his best interest to shut his mouth, as he stands to gain nothing from defending his mistake.

Whom is Gilbert standing for? Unlicensed gun owners? The NBAGU (National Basketball Association’s Gun Union)?

and think in some situations that Stern can be an utter arsehole, but I don’t understand the anger towards the commish in this particular situation.

It would have been different if like Karl Malone said, Gilbert came out and admitted his error in judgement and took full responsibility rather than downplaying the situation and then going absolutely nuts on twitter.

The verbage that Stern uses in his press release should tell us a lot about his mindset regarding the issue. The term “unfit” makes it seem to me like he is taking into account all of Gil’s recent actions and realizing that maybe instead of this guy just being a goofball, it’s entirely possible he has some serious psychological problems going on that could endanger himself and his teammates (not to mention the league’s image, which Stern doesn’t like people to fuck with).

and I don’t mean financially.

I’m still not really sure how I feel about the severity of the suspension, but one way of looking at it is that Stern may have done the team a favor. If Stern had waited until Arenas was charged/tried/convicted/whatever, every single player and coach on the team would’ve been asked about it every day, and that would’ve been a huge distraction. Now, everyone likely will be asked about it tonight, and then tomorrow there won’t be anything really to talk about. It certainly won’t help the team on the court, but the players may – may – be able to focus a little more now.

and people piling on, moralizing, talking tough – that’s all b.s.
BUT – after letting this settle in – it is all on gilbert. no way around that. i love him as a player – my favorite all-time wizard. but he has absolutely no one else to blame.

… the DA slaps Arenas with fines and community service. Stern re-instates him after 20 games. Gil (hopefully) learns his lesson. I had hoped he would continue playing with the Wiz, but I know think it would be better for him and the team if they found a way to amicably part ways.

I feel bad for you, the Washington Wiz fans but not Arenas. His recent behavior totally mocked the seriousness of the issue he faced. I am a physician and we see too many shootings and self-inflicted wounds or deaths because of guns. This is a serious matter not taken serious by Agent Moron.

grunfeld himself leaked the story to the media after hearing about it from an asst coach who passed on the latest lockerroom antics. new york post connections make sense for grun comin from his knicks days.

How many people get caught committing(arguably) a crime while being smart? Don’t a large amount of criminal acts or fireable offenses occur while being stupid?

If Stern wants to suspend someone WITH pay until the situation is looked at in a formal setting, fine.

Stern is going outside the collective bargining agreement and claiming he has the right to suspend payment of a fairly large sum of money with no recouse. Huge mistake by Stern. Stern can’t insist the NBA stands outside the boundaries of contract law.

Whatever chance the NBA had to void Arenas contract was lost by Stern’s actions today. This is all going to be settled in a courtroom now. A courtoom where Stern isn’t the person in charge.