Memphis Grizzlies: 5 past teammate fights to learn from

Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton

When: Dec. 21, 2009
Why: Yet another game of Boo-Ray

Here is the grandaddy of all teammate fights. While this one never (reportedly) got physical, it was certainly the most dangerous. Supposedly, Crittenton was losing big in the game and Arenas jumped in, ready to take more money.

One thing led to another and the original game ended with both threatening each other in violence. Both players ended up bringing guns into the Washington Wizards’ locker room a few days later and began pointing them at each other.

Even though it was nine years ago, it’s still incredible to believe it actually happened.

The Wizards had high hopes for the 2009-10 campaign but were very bad up until that point, going just 8-17 through their first 25 games. After the OK Corral incident, their team didn’t improve at all and went 17-38 the rest of the way to finish 13th in the Eastern Conference.

Commissioner David Stern ended up suspending both Arenas and Crittenton for the rest of the year and Crittenton never played in the NBA again. Arenas’ career never really recovered and he was out of the league three years later.

Lesson learned

Don’t get so angry about gambling debts and keep guns out of the locker room. Don’t hang out with Gilbert Arenas. Actually, just don’t be involved with the Washington Wizards. Garrett Temple, Markieff Morris, Arenas and Crittenton have all played for the Wizards, Von Wafer once celebrated a missed dunk against the Wizards, Mario Chalmers got crab dip food poisoning before playing the Wizards, and Delonte West was once arrested close to Washington D.C. on weapons charges.

Overall, the lessons learned are:

• Fight if it’s going to bring the team together
• No more fights over cards
• Trade away fighting players
• Stay away from Washington
• Have LeBron James on your team

Let’s just hope the Grizzlies can take a few of these into consideration for the rest of the year.