NBA NEWS - NBA COMMISSIONER DAVID STERN STATEMENT ON GILBERT ARENAS AND JAVARIS CRITTENTON

NBA Commissioner David Stern - NBA photo

Jarvis Crittenton - NBA photo

Gilbert Arenas - NBA photo

NBA Commissioner David Stern suspended Gilbert Arenas and Jarvis Crittenton for carrying guns into NBA arenas. They are suspended without pay for the remainder of the season. Stern addressed this issue at a press conference.

NO GUNS ALLOWED

NEW YORK, NY USA

Thursday January 28, 2010

National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern issued the following statement yesterday:

"The NBA has conducted a thorough investigation of events relating to this matter.

"It is not disputed that, following an argument on the team's flight home from a game in Phoenix, both Mr. Arenas and Mr. Crittenton brought guns to the Verizon Center locker room and - with other players and team personnel present or nearby - displayed them to one another in a continuation of their dispute. The players engaged in this conduct despite a specific rule set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association prohibiting players from possessing a weapon at an NBA facility, and reminders of this prohibition given annually by the NBA to players both in writing and in person.

"The issue here is not about the legal ownership and possession of guns, either in one's home or elsewhere. It is about possession of guns in the NBA workplace, which will not be tolerated.

"I have met separately with Mr. Arenas and with Mr. Crittenton. Both have expressed remorse for their actions and an understanding of the seriousness of their transgressions. Both have volunteered to engage in community service in order to turn the lessons they have learned into an educational message for others. I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and intent to create something positive from this incident.

"Nevertheless, there is no justification for their conduct. Accordingly, I am today converting Mr. Arenas' indefinite suspension without pay to a suspension without pay for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, and am also suspending Mr. Crittenton without pay, effective immediately, for the remainder of the 2009-10 season. And I'd be happy to answer your questions."

An Interview with: COMMISSIONER DAVID STERN

Q. What criteria did you look at with regard to making the decision? Does past precedent play any role in this, or was this kind of a self contained situation?

DAVID STERN: This is the first time we've had guns on our premises at an NBA facility. And this was very specific to the circumstance.

Q. I just wanted to ask: How close were you or was your decision already made before your meeting with Gilbert Arenas, and just what role did the union play in helping you determine this length for the suspension?

DAVID STERN: I did have meetings with Billy Hunter, and we had a very free and open dialogue where the one thing we did agree was that guns had no place in the NBA in our facilities and on team business. But I had certain notions, but I waited until I met with Messrs. Crittenton and Arenas. Told them generally sort of what I was thinking and then made the decision this afternoon after the two meetings I had.

And they were, as I said in my statement, we conducted an extensive series of interviews. We have lots of information that I've reviewed. The ownership and management of the Wizards, I think, acted with patience, strength and compassion during the crisis. And then it was just up to me to make the decision, and I have.

Q. Curious about the difference in the length. I know it's both suspended for the rest of the season. Obviously Gilbert's began earlier because of the indefinite suspension you issued. But at the end of the day they have a difference, the number of games. Is there anything to that, or did you just want a blanket rest of season suspension?

DAVID STERN: I historically like to wait until a more definitive stage of the criminal process has been reached. And I did that with respect to, with Javaris, and I would have done that with Gilbert had it not been for his intervening activities and actions.

Q. If that had been the case, you would have given them identical suspensions for essentially identical offenses?

DAVID STERN: I don't know. I just am where I am right now. And I'm aware that Gilbert, who has a previous conviction here, and a little bit of a history, has 50 games, and Javaris is 30 38, I mean. But I really am focused simply on the fact that I had to make the decision at this time and the appropriate penalty is the rest of the season.

Q. Just wanted to know, obviously the way Mr. Pollin felt about gun violence and the way you felt about him, were you more disappointed this happened in Washington than anywhere else? Did that play into the kinds of suspension you would have given?

DAVID STERN: It didn't. I mean, it's sadder because I know how Abe felt about this to the point of changing his team's name. But the Wizards were very cooperative and helpful. But, no, this is about the fact, as I recited in my statement, that we had two players that got into an argument. They continued the argument and appeared with firearms in one of our buildings. We have preached to them in writing and actually in person on this very subject and nevertheless they brandished firearms. And that just can't be tolerated. It would be the same thing, I believe, wherever this activity happened. And if there's any doubts of any our players about it in the future, we will be dealing with this in an even more severe way.

Q. Were you satisfied with the contrition that Gilbert demonstrated in your meeting? And what will be the next step for him to regain admittance back to the NBA? Is it just a sure thing, or does he have to have another meeting with you?

DAVID STERN: Gilbert is suspended only for the remainder of this season. And as I said, I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and their intent to take something positive from this incident. And that's the way I feel.

Q. Did he have a personal message for you today, something he wanted to share with you?

DAVID STERN: Both players had something they wanted to share with me. But I think that it's not something I want to share with you. But they expressed their contrition and their determination to make it right to the greatest extent they possibly can. And their recognition overall about the size of what they had done wrong. Q. Gilbert Arenas asked to be suspended for the rest of the season and did not want the Players Association to fight it. Did Mr. Crittenton request the suspension as well?

DAVID STERN: Is that a statement?

Q. That's what the reports are saying, that Gilbert had asked to be suspended for the remainder of the season -

DAVID STERN: Where did you get that report from?

Q. So it's untrue?

DAVID STERN: That's not true.

Q. And so he did not say that he wanted the Players Association to fight this, then?

DAVID STERN: I don't know what you're saying. He did not say he wanted the suspension, and he wouldn't fight it. Asked and answered.

Q. David, I was going to ask you about contrition and remorse and what you heard. And you've answered that already. So I'll ask you question B. I'd like to know if the league has given any kind of guidance to the Wizards about whether or how to or what they want to do in terms of moving forward vis a vis, whether they want to try to void his contract or whether they want to keep him as a member of the team and trade him, or just what kind of advice the league has given the Wizards about moving forward post suspension with Gilbert?

DAVID STERN: I have not given any advice to them. That's their decision. I'm sure that there are lawyers that exchanged discussions and views that we have all the time with the union, with our lawyers, with the team's lawyers and the like. But I'm not giving the Wizards any guidance on this one. They have an issue for themselves to deal with, and I have to represent the league's position.

Q. Could you describe your reaction in the days following the initial reports of the incident between Gilbert and Javaris when Gilbert was then tweeting and then saying that he had done nothing wrong, and then pantomimed shooting his fingers at his teammates?

DAVID STERN: I'm thinking, because it's not about me. And I would say a very honest response is that I felt that I should do something to keep Arenas - to keep Gilbert from doing even further damage to himself. And I told him that.

Q. I'm not trying to climb into your head. But was your reaction more disappointment? Anger? Frustration?

DAVID STERN: You know, I've spent a career on the one hand having to dispense punishment because that comes with the job. But on the other hand trying to protect a group of players for whom I have a very high regard. And we also try to protect them from doing things that are foolish and damaging to themselves, particularly, but also to the league. And I felt that Gilbert was in the process of doing that and it was incumbent upon me to stop it. I always say the same thing that I always feel the frustration when we have to deal with an individual incident because we have well over 400 incredible young men who are doing extraordinary things off the court, giving of their time and money to many different things, including the example set in the most recent relief efforts for Haiti. These are not scripted but heart felt by some very good people. And there's often a generalization that comes in a particular incident. And I've experienced that many times over the last - I won't say how many decades. It's not even years, it's decades. And so I try to deal with the particular instance, but protect the reputation and the image of so many good people that really honor our league with the work they do, both on the court and off the court.

Q. I just wanted to ask you about how forthright the Wizards were in letting you know about Javaris' gun. Were they aware that Javaris had a gun? Because in their initial press release they said that Gilbert had four unloaded weapons but there was no mention of Javaris and there was no confirmation he had a gun until he pleaded guilty. How much did they let you know about Javaris' gun?

DAVID STERN: Well, we questioned them and they told us about it as part of our investigation. They were forthcoming to us.

Q. What message do you hope you send today with these suspensions that you handed out?

DAVID STERN: Is that we mean what we say when we say that guns are not - are prohibited from being in our buildings and on team business. And if you violate that prohibition, which is an agreement between the Players Association and the NBA, you will be dealt with harshly. Because it's very potentially dangerous to our players, to the other players, and to anyone else who might be involved and we're simply not going to tolerate it.

Q. You kind of answered this in part in the last question. But my first part of it was, will there be any further penalties for any members of the Wizards' organization as a result of this?

DAVID STERN: I don't contemplate any.

Q. And the other part of my question was, going into the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, do you anticipate a gun policy being carved out that's tougher and more clear cut than the one that's currently in there?

DAVID STERN: You know, it wouldn't surprise me if, wholly apart from the successor Collective Bargaining Agreement, that we sit down, Billy Hunter and I, to address this subject separately. Because this is not a subject on which we find ourselves in disagreement. And we've already begun those discussions. Because this is about the health and safety of our players and all players as well as our overall image of our players, and we're going to make, I would guess, an even stronger statement on this subject than is being made by this penalty being announced today.

Q. David, you just touched on the image issue. What do you think this incident and incidents - well there's been none like this specifically - but what does this do to the image of your league, your players and your teams' ability to conduct successful businesses when things like this occur?

DAVID STERN: Actually, I don't want to be - I don't want to be Pollyanna ish about it. But business is great in this difficult economy. I mean, great compared to where we feared it might be. Our fans are being treated to nightly buzzer beaters. Our attendance is only down a couple of percent in the worst recession of all our lifetime. Television ratings remain strong. And people are arguing about who is going to be the finalist, who is the MVP. And look at what's going on in Sacramento and Memphis and Oklahoma City, and you name the place, where there are impressive turnarounds. And so I think most of our fans will have the same reaction that I have, which is we're going to have some bumps but we're going to deal with them and then we're going to move on and get back to the game of basketball. And we tend to move faster than we did in this case, but we wanted to respect the players' rights in criminal proceedings as best we could. And so there was a sort of a weighing here that caused us to perhaps wait a bit longer than it would have been, what we wanted to do. But that's just the way it is.

Q. I have one further question on the one penalty rule in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Has there been any discussion about how that would apply to a player like Gilbert's protection against being penalized both by the league and the team? Because it was clear in your initial suspension letter that your action was irrespective of anything that the team might do. How does that -

DAVID STERN: This action is irrespective of anything that the team might do as well.

Q. How does that bode with regard to the one penalty rule? Isn't that pretty much forbidden in the CBA?

DAVID STERN: You'll have to ask a lawyer.

Q. Aren't you a lawyer?

DAVID STERN: I'm just the commissioner. And I'm sure if you asked 10 lawyers, you'd get 10 different descriptions. That's how those guys are. I don't want to practice law on this phone call, other than to say the team is a separate issue.

Q. How long were the meetings with each of the players today?

DAVID STERN: I would say that Javaris was up yesterday for an hour. And Gilbert was maybe a little bit longer.

Q. So Javaris was yesterday; Gilbert was today?

DAVID STERN: Javaris was yesterday. Javaris was yesterday afternoon and Gilbert was this morning at the noon hour, thereabout.

Q. And also now that you do have a precedent set here, if a similar incident is to happen, have you thought about where punishment could - what kind of punishment?

DAVID STERN: Actually I have, and that's a subject that Billy Hunter and I agreed we would discuss in the upcoming weeks. Thank you everybody. We appreciate your interest and your attendance here today.

(NBA)