Player's Union Protects Arenas, Wizards Take the Fall

The NBA announced this week that Gilbert Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton would be suspended for the remainder of the season following the well known gun incident between the two. It looks as if Arenas' days as a Wizard are numbered, but the team cannot really bring closure to this situation because of the player's union. The team is unable to void Arenas' contract because teams are not allowed to punish players for an incident in which the league has already punished them for. Now in order to release him from the team, the Wizards will have to buy out his contract.

Thanks to the players union thugs and criminals get protected. This is ridiculous. Arenas brought out four guns in the locker room and has pled guilty to a felony. Now he is entitled to millions of dollars? The rule in itself is absurd. If a player does something serious enough to be suspended by the league, why can't a team void his contract, especially if that incident includes a felony conviction? I'm sure glad that there are players unions out there to protect these millionaires from missing out on their already obscene salaries.

I understand that players need a voice to protect their rights. I'm all for that. I also understand the need to protect players from having their contracts voided because of simple one game suspensions. But these rules end up helping people like Arenas. Let's be real. Professional athletes in most sports have a real discipline problem. You see football, baseball, and basketball players getting into legal trouble all the time. Most of these players grow up knowing they will be superstars. Nobody can deny them anything because they all want their talent for their teams. Then they are paid millions of dollars to stay in shape and play games. As a result some of these guys have a real problem with discipline. There is a laundry list of star players who get into legal trouble. Players unions, with their broad rules, end up protecting people who should have the book thrown at them. Arenas certainly needs a harsh wake up call. He truly believed that he hadn't done anything wrong and even pretended to shoot his teammates during a pregame pump up. I'm sure his lawyer had to sit him down and tell him, point blank "You committed a felony and if you don't plead guilty then you will go to jail." Luckily for him, it entitles him to a nice payday from the Wizards.

Let's take a look at who will be punished by this. Arenas may face jail time, but I imagine he pled guilty for a deal with little or no jail time. He is suspended for the rest of the season, but he is used to sitting out for significant periods of time. Not only that, Arenas will now miss the rest of an extremely frustrating season in which the team was going nowhere. He has also said he wants out of Washington. Now he has a free pass to sit out the rest of the season and force the Wizards to buy him out. The Wizards who have done nothing wrong will now lose millions of dollars and any hope of competing this season. Arenas' trade value has plummeted because of his little gun slinging episode and voiding his contract was the only real option for the Wizards. They can't do that because the league has punished him. Their only option now is to buy him out or void his contract anyway and face arbitration. The most likely scenario is that Arenas will be given a slap on the wrist by the DC courts maybe without even any jail time and will be paid millions by a team he wants to leave and freedom to explore opportunities with other teams. Lesson learned?