Richard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenas’ beef is the latest drama no one asked for
The NBA might be on All-Star break, but that doesn’t mean the drama stops. The latest episode of NBA’s most random beef features former point guard Gilbert Arenas and one-time NBA champion and now analyst Richard Jefferson.
Former teammates
The two former players went at each other after Arenas first mentioned that he should’ve been drafted ahead of Richardson in the '01 NBA Draft.
“You know they picked Richard Jefferson right? How did they pick Richard Jefferson (ahead of me) when I was the number one scorer in the University of Arizona. I was the best player on our team. He was option three, four even,” Arenas said on his podcast entitled “The No Chill with Gilbert Arenas Podcast.”
So, of course, the one-time champion did not take Arenas’ words lightly. Jefferson answered back through a Tik Tok video where he explained why Arenas dropped to 31st in the 2021 NBA draft.
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“Gilbert was an immature ass**le. That’s just who he was. We are all little dic**eads, I get it.”
Richard Jefferson, TikTok
RJ also shared that Arenas was picked after him in the draft because of his behavior. According to Jefferson, several NBA executives and reporters were turned off by Arenas after the latter did not want to participate in the stress test during 2001 pre-draft because he did want to ruin his pair of Chuck Taylor’s that he wore during the pre-draft workout.
Crazy Gil
Richardson also mentioned that Arenas treated the pre-draft press conference that many NBA executives, reporters, and general managers attended as a joke after telling reporters that he wanted to get in the NBA to be an international pimp. One reporter questioned Arenas’ statement, but the Washington Wizard guard apparently still doubled down and even defended his stance. It turns out Arenas then had many red flags that ruined his reputation in the draft.
“All these things are the reason why Gilbert kept falling down because he’s an idiot. The fact that Gilbert’s brain still doesn’t process why he dropped down, this is just to let you know who Gilbert is,” Jefferson added.
While Jefferson may not have been the best scorer for the University of Arizona, he still turned out to be a notable player and a champion in the NBA in large part because of his attitude. Meanwhile, for Arenas, he completed only 13 seasons but made it to the NBA All-Star thrice. Sadly, Arenas’ career was riddled with injuries that cost him a potential Hall-of-Fame appearance - believe it or not, he had the talent.