Gilbert Arenas was once one of the most popular sports stars in Washington, D.C. And not just the nation's capital. His likeness was on the cover of Electronic Arts' NBA Live 08 video game.

Gilbert Arenas.
Nick Wass/AP Photo

Gilbert Arenas during happier days.

But that was then. Now Arenas has become the latest poster boy for high-paid, misbehaving professional athletes after reports emerged that he kept guns in the Washington Wizards' locker room at the Verizon Center, not only violating Washington D.C. gun laws but NBA policy.

Not only did Arenas have guns in the locker room but according to a New York Post report Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other over a gambling debt. The players or their representatives dispute this version of events but it's nevertheless out there. And Arenas

Arenas, who has a $111 million, six year contract, has become such a persona non grata in a town he once lorded over that sports columnists in Washington are urging that his time with the Wizards be cut short as though he were Nixon during Watergate.

Superstar sportswriter John Feinstein, for instance, wrote in the Washington Post:

Arenas really is, as he puts it, "a goofball." There doesn't appear to be any real malice in him. But he's become a serious distraction in the locker room, and this is the second time he has been involved with guns in his NBA career. The Wizards should do anything they can to get rid of him.

 

Michael Wilbon, another superstar sportswriter, wrote:

That's a wrap. The Washington Wizards as we've known them the last five years are over and done. If Ted Leonsis was wondering whether he wanted to completely blow up this team — oops, maybe I shouldn't have put it like that — this latest news about Gilbert Arenas and guns in the team locker room should make his decision very easy.

The problem for the Wizards, as both sportswriters note, is that Arenas' contract is so sizable as to diminish other teams' appetite for him. That means the Wizards will likely have to give up a lot in terms of present and future players to make a deal happen.

The problem for the NBA is that many of its players believe in packing for their protection.

In an Associated Press story, Phil Jackson was quoted explaining the NBA's culture of gun ownership:

"I have the sense that this is an environment that's come out of a lot of the kids' past," Jackson said. "Not only that, they've had situations that have happened in their own personal lives that makes them feel that it warrants it, but my message is it attracts violence. There's no doubt about it, and the violence that happens around guns is death usually."

Jackson's explanation isn't likely to endear Jackson to NRA members.

Clearly, the NBA would rather people focus on the on-the-court rivalries between the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant and the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James than an armed, High Noon-style face off in the Wizards' locker room. Or a member of the Cavaliers being arrested last year carrying two handguns and a shot gun.

Sports fans are waiting to see how NBA commissioner David Stern handles these infractions.

Stern gets a lot of credit for helping to resurrect the NBA, along with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, in the 1980s after the league's reputation was trashed by stories of drug-using athletes in the 1970s and early 1980s. So he has a lot of experience trying to protect the NBA from its own players.