Stern brings hammer down on Wizards duo -- and he's just getting warmed up
NEW YORK -- Gilbert Arenas' final act as an NBA player during the 2009-10 season came Wednesday morning, when he boarded a flight bound for LaGuardia Airport. It was wheels up at about 10 a.m. -- up, up, and away for a season, and a career, that has careened out of control and now gone silent.
Arenas won't play basketball again this season, and may never suit up for the Wizards again. His career is in shambles, all because he has a bad sense of humor, a tragic sense of what's right and wrong and an unfortunate flare for underestimating David Stern.
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| Tired of the constant trouble players create, David Stern sends a message to the league -- loud and clear. (Getty Images) |
So according to a source, when union chief Billy Hunter came to Stern with some lame plea bargain by which Arenas and Javaris Crittenton would get leniency in exchange for strengthening the collective bargaining agreement's prohibition on guns, Stern probably wanted to brandish a firearm himself. He didn't need one. Unarmed, Stern smacked that idea out of the air like a one-winged moth, and make no mistake: It was a sign of things to come.
Arenas' suspension Wednesday was about a lot of things. It was about the sad, senseless waste of talent over nothing -- over kids' stuff, except that the immaturity was trumped by recklessness. It was about the NBA being dragged through the mud again. It was also about Stern and Hunter, who are going to start seeing a lot of each other in the coming months with the future of the sport on the line.
If the Arenas situation is any barometer, Stern let everybody know who's in charge here. Look at the hand he was dealt: Two knuckleheads playing mobster without the bullets, a couple of phonies literally making idiots of themselves with guns they'd just as soon toss into a laundry bin as load and fire. With plenty of help from Arenas, Stern played that pair of jokers into a cataclysmic opening salvo in the looming dispute between owners and players. It is a dispute that many believe ultimately will lead to 450 of Arenas' closest friends joining him on the sideline.
The NBA is headed for a lockout after next season, and Stern scored the first negotiating victory on Wednesday. He got Arenas to accept -- without appeal -- the third-longest non-drug suspension in league history, a 48-game ban for playing Keystone Cops in the locker room.
Early in this Arenas saga, a team executive suggested to me that Stern would find a way to use this to send more than one kind of message. Stern made one of those abundantly clear after announcing the suspensions: Guns on NBA property won't be tolerated.
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Arenas, Crittenton suspended for rest of season Wizards: Voiding Arenas' deal still possibility |
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BergerSphereThe broader message, the executive said, applies to the impending labor dispute, and Clint Eastwood couldn't have said it any better. If anybody wants to believe that Stern -- who works for some owners who are losing millions -- is playing around when it comes to fixing what's wrong with the NBA, then go ahead. Make his day.
Entering the final phase of his commissionership, Stern is done playing games with these players. That's why Hunter's plea for leniency in exchange for a tougher gun policy went over about like you'd expect. Other than guns, which can kill people, not being allowed in the workplace, what other variations of English could've been written into the agreement? A clause that says you shouldn't load them, aim them, or pull the trigger?
The only concession that worked for Stern was Arenas agreeing not to drag the league through a lengthy grievance, which would have detracted from next month's All-Star Game and also from what figures to be another thrilling and lucrative postseason with record TV ratings. Stern cleverly denied there was any such agreement because there's nothing in writing. But Arenas' willingness to accept the penalty was all that stood between him and the 82-game ban Stern brought to the negotiating table, a source said.
Crittenton, who hadn't played for the Wizards all season due to an injury, is not willing to go so quietly. According to a source, Crittenton is discussing with union officials the possibility of an appeal.
But in the end, Stern wins. He always does. He gets Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid out of sight and out of mind, and ultimately, he'll probably get his stiffer gun policy, too. An offer from Arenas' legal counsel -- to extract a binding promise from the Wizards not to void his contract in exchange for accepting the rest-of-the-season ban -- was shot down by the Wizards, according to a source.
"We're still exploring all our options," Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said Wednesday night.
Any bid to add the forfeiture of $81 million over four years on top of a 48-game ban that already is costing Arenas more than $7 million will be next to impossible, according to lawyers familiar with the case. Stern punted my question about the "one-penalty rule" in the CBA -- which protects players from being disciplined by the league and team for the same offense -- to the legal minds who would wrestle with such an issue. ("You'll have to ask a lawyer," he said.) Hunter vowed to "respond aggressively" to any attempt by the Wizards to terminate Arenas' contract. As far as Stern is concerned, let them fight it out -- and let them eat cake while they're at it.
When I asked Stern what this incident has done to the NBA's image, he said things aren't as bad as they seem and prattled on about buzzer-beating shots, strong TV ratings and how great things are in Sacramento and Memphis. But anyone who paid close attention to Stern's posture in the Arenas case knows better. If you think the players took one on the chin Wednesday, just wait. This was only a sparring session compared to what comes next.
