What’s Next for Gilbert and the Wizards?

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Gilbert Arenas was charged with one count of felony gun possession (for carrying an unlicensed weapon), and he reached a plea agreement that could mean he won’t have to do any jail time. He’s reportedly scheduled to plead guilty this afternoon in a D.C. court.

As for Gil’s future in Washington, well, it sure doesn’t sound like there is much of one. Even if the team doesn’t void his contract — a scenario that seems more and more likely — it’s hard to imagine Arenas donning a Wizards uniform ever again.

Here’s the Washington Post reporting on the once blissful union between Gilbert and the Wiz:

A person close to Arenas said Thursday that Arenas believes President Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards management failed to support him following his locker room confrontation on Dec. 21 with teammate Javaris Crittenton. The two players were feuding over a gambling debt stemming from a card game on a team flight back to Washington from Phoenix two days earlier.

Arenas, the person close to the player said, has told NBA investigators that his flippant behavior following the incident, including the pantomiming of pistols before a game that led to an indefinite suspension from Stern, was because he felt the Wizards organization had turned its back on him.

“If your own franchise, the people you considered family, weren’t there for you when you needed them most, would you want to play for them and be around them anymore?” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Arenas “was wrong for bringing guns into the locker room, and it’s going to mean pleading guilty to a felony. It’s serious business. But the way this came out and how Ernie and the organization handled the facts makes you wonder if he will ever play for them again.”

It remains to be seen what — if anything — Billy Hunter and the Players’ Union will do for Gilbert Arenas during this crisis.

Even more interesting, however, will be seeing which team will be willing to take a chance on Gil once the legal proceedings (and suspension from the League) are done.