That time an NBA player sexually solicited an undercover cop
It’s not much of a mystery why NBA players get into a load of trouble off the court. They enter the league in their early 20s supplied with an exorbitant amount of cash. When youth and money collide, a lot of interesting things can happen. Unfortunately, this includes the bad ones — the ones that could get you arrested.
Blatche was at the wrong place, at the wrong time
Former Washington Wizards big man Andray Blatche was one of the many players who were out to have a good time one night. But as bad luck would have it, he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and was talking to the wrong girl. In the summer of 2007, Blatche and a friend tried to solicit a prostitute — who turned to be a female undercover cop, part of a sting operation. A report from the Washington Post a day after the incident read in part:
“According to D.C. police, Blatche and a male acquaintance were arrested at 12:11 yesterday morning in front of 10 Thomas Circle in Northwest Washington after attempting to solicit sex from a female police officer in the prostitution enforcement unit. He appeared in D.C. Superior Court yesterday evening and was released. He also was wanted for failure to appear on a charge of driving without a license, stemming from an arrest in October 2006, according to charging documents.”
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Luckily the charges were dropped
Interestingly, the Wizards had just offered Blatche a five-year deal worth $12.5 million. (How the cap has grown since then) Blatche was a rising star back then, and the organization immediately saw his potential as a big man laced with elite ball-handling skills. The arrest could have signified Blactche’s downfall. However, the charges were dropped after the big man agreed to attend a day-long seminar offered by prosecutors for men who solicit prostitutes.
Then Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld shared his support for Blatche after the incident: “Andray is taking the necessary steps to resolve this situation and put it behind him." The Wizards were right in their decision to fully support the big man. After that incident, Blatche would become a productive part of the Wizards’ campaign in the late 2000s.
