One day after Sacramento Kings swingman Caron Butler's memoir was released, former Washington Wizards teammate Gilbert Arenas disputed his account of the infamous locker room gun incident that took place in 2009. According to Chris Lingebach of CBS Washington, Arenas posted a lengthy response on Instagramthat has since been deletedin response to the claims made in Butler's book, Tuff Juice: My Journey from the Streets to the NBA.Both Arenas and Javaris Crittenton were suspended for the incident, which allegedly escalated to the point of guns being drawn in the Wizards' locker room due to a dispute over a card game on a flight.Butler claimed Arenas owed Crittenton $1,100 and was unwilling to pay, per an excerpt from the book, courtesy of theWashington Post's Dan Steinberg. Based on Arenas' recollection, though, JaVale McGee fairly won the $1,100 in question, but Crittenton complained about what he believed to be a misdeal, according to Lingebach.Arenas and Butler agree that Crittenton and Arenas argued on the shuttle back from the airport, but while Butler claimed Arenas was the one who brought up the subject of guns, Arenas insists it was Crittenton.Here is Butler's account, per Steinberg:They were still going at it when we all got on an airport shuttle van to take us to our vehicles.Ernie Grunfeld, the team president, leaned over to me and said in a pleading manner, 'Talk to them.''I did,' I told him, 'but they keep arguing.'Everyone could hear Gilbert and Javaris going at it as we rode along.'I'll see your (expletive) at practice and you know what I do,' Gilbert said.'What the (expletive) you mean, you know what I do'' replied Javaris.'I play with guns.''Well I play with guns, too.'Arenas' rebuttal is as follows, according to Lingebach:"So when the plane lands, (Crittenton) walks back talking tough, saying, 'If we were in the streets, I'll pop you in your knees.' I said, '(Shoot), I'll give you the guns to do it on Monday.' It was Saturday. We had Sunday off."Butler also described the locker room incident in detail as he remembers it, per Steinberg:Gilbert was standing in front of his two locker stalls, the ones previously used by Michael Jordan, with four guns on display. Javaris was standing in front of his own stall, his back to Gilbert.'Hey, MF, come pick one,' Gilbert told Javaris while pointing to the weapons. 'I'm going to shoot your (expletive) with one of these.''Oh no, you don't need to shoot me with one of those,' said Javaris, turning around slowly like a gunslinger in the Old West. 'I've got one right here.'He pulled out his own gun, already loaded, cocked it, and pointed it at Gilbert.(...)I talked calmly to Javaris, reminding him that his entire career, not to mention, perhaps, his life, would be over if he flicked that trigger finger.I looked back at Gilbert. He was silent as he removed himself from the scene.Javaris slowly lowered the gun.I know that Gilbert was thinking, 'I went too far. I had a gun pointed at me and it was loaded.'Despite the vivid picture Butler paints, Arenas insists it is untrue and claims that he never touched the guns other than placing them on a chair, according to Lingebach:I get to the gym at 8 a.m. I put my four empty guns on his chair, and a note that said, 'Pick one.' No one saw me touch a gun or saw me put them there. When Crittenton came in, I was in the training room. Crittenton, (DeShawn Stevenson), (Andray Blatche) and (Dominic McGuire) were the only ones in the locker roomwhen I walked in.Regardless of precisely how the situation played out, both Arenas and Crittenton were punished by the league.Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
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