All Time Top 5 Arizona Basketball players in the NBA

Gilbert Arenas (1999-2001)

During Arenas’ short time at Arizona, he only played here for two years. He amazed everyone that sat in the seats of the McKale Center. In his short time at Zona, he averaged 16 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Those may not be eye-popping numbers, but for a team that reached the title game in his sophomore season, the numbers are very good.

After his sophomore season, Arenas decided to enter the NBA draft. Despite a stellar tournament run, his stock fell. He ended up falling all the way down to the 31st selection, being drafted by the Golden State Warriors. There are not many solid players from the 2001 NBA draft, and the fact he fell to 31 shows how many teams passed on a very solid young player.

Despite becoming a locker room enigma in his later years, Arenas had an amazing career. Over a 12 year career, he averaged over 20 points a game. Throw in four rebounds and five assists, and you get a player who was known for his ability to score when the team needed.

At the peak of his career, Arenas’ may have been the NBA’s best pure scorer, outside of Kobe Bryant. In a 3-year span from 2004-2006, he averaged over 26 points per game, almost reaching 30 in the 2005 season. When it came to shooting, Gilbert never was considered a ‘lights out shooter,’ but 42% from the field and 35% made 3-pointers is respectable, especially in the era before the 3-point shot took over.

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2010 was the year that things had begun to unravel for the once dynamic player. On New Year’s day, reports began to circulate that, he and teammate Javaris Crittenton began to argue in the locker room earlier that day, then proceeded to flash each other guns that they had stored in their lockers. Arenas ended up pleading guilty to the situation after an investigation to carrying an unlicensed pistol. Five days after the original event, the NBA stepped in and made a major statement by suspending him for the rest of the season after he pretended to shoot his teammates with “gun fingers” during a huddle.

During the next season, Arenas was traded to the Orlando Magic. He was then waved after a disappointing season.,  The Memphis Grizzlies decided to take a chance, but he blew the chance, and it never worked out. After the season he signed to play one season in China after that, Arenas’ professional career as a basketball player was over.

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Despite having one of the most controversial careers of anybody to ever play in the NBA, nobody can deny the fact that Gilbert Arenas is the best Wildcat to ever play in the NBA in my opinion. There was once a point that one could he was a top five player during a few years in the middle of his career.