Some notes on Agent Zero

The greatest story of the decade (so far!) has to be this one. For the uninitiated:

NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and his Washing ton Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other in the team’s locker room during a Christmas Eve dispute over a gambling debt, The Post has learned.

That’s right: The Wizards’ point guard and their young shooting guard waved (supposedly unloaded) guns at each other over a game of cards. Needless to say, the league is in an uproar, and ole Gil is in some trouble with D.C. law enforcement. A grand jury has been convened to see just what actions must be taken against Agent Zero. There are two different things that jumped out at me as ridiculous during this whole mess.

The first is that immediately after I heard of the incident I thought “Oh, well, that’s good for the Wizards: Now they can void his onerous contract.” Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen — he’d have to be convicted of a felony, in all probability — but it just goes to show you how messed up the NBA’s finances are (and how ridiculous their salary cap is) that your best player being convicted of a felony leaves you with more options of what to do with him than trading him because no GM in his right mind would take his ginormous salary. Especially since Isiah isn’t in the league any more.

The second thought I had was “Well, he’s going to get screwed by D.C.’s ridiculous gun laws.” And they are absolutely ridiculous. He brought unloaded guns without any ammuntion into the city to (he says) get them out of his house where his young children live … and he could go to prison for it. That’s insane. Ole Gil isn’t a gangbanger — he’s not slinging rock or endangering anyone’s lives. But because the District’s gun laws are so draconian and so absurd, a by all accounts pretty decent guy might lose his livelihood and lose his freedom simply by exercising his Second Amendment rights. It’s kind of crazy to think about.