When looking at the history of the most overlooked superstars during their prime years, Gilbert Arenas certainly fits into that category.
From 2004 to 2007, Arenas was arguably the best scorer in the league and a top-five player leading his Washington Wizards. Gil averaged 26.2 points during that period and in 2007, he even won the scoring title, averaging 28.4.
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Arenas’ 2007 run had something extra special behind it
Gil was a part of the 2006 tryouts over the summer that were going to determine the Team USA squad for the FIBA World Cup.
He didn’t make the team, but he never forgot it and he took it as a disrespect.
Brendan Haywood was one of his teammates in Washington that year and he remembered what a killer on the court “Agent Zero” was.
“Gilbert gets cut for like Kirk Hinrich, so he’s pissed,” Haywood started his story on the “Run Your Race” podcast.
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“Gil was like, ‘Yo, I’m going to give all these dudes buckets when I see them.’ So, certain coaches like Mike D’Antoni, [who was an assistant on Team USA], he got them on his hit list. Anybody who coached on Team USA was on his hit list. Man, we went to Phoenix, he gave them that work. He even told us, ‘Y’all boys gonna be doing wind sprints tonight, cause I’m getting them up. Pre-meditated 50-ball.’ He was always different,” Haywood recalled.
To be entirely accurate, Arenas finished with 54 points in the game that Haywood was talking about. He was really efficient, shooting 21-37 from the field, securing the Wizards’ 144-138 win after overtime. Arenas even said that D’Antoni, who was the Suns’ head coach, told him he was going to need to score 50 to beat them so Arenas took him upon that challenge.
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One of the players who was at those 2006 tryouts was Chris Paul and he saw for himself how pissed Gil was after not making the final cut.
“Gil let all of them know. He was like, ‘Listen, when I play y’all, I’m going to give you 50, I’m going to give you 60 and if I could go back to college, Coach K, I’d give you 70. Guess what he did. When he played against Portland, Nate McMillan, [Portland’s head coach then and an assistant on Team USA], 50. When he played against D’Antoni, 50,” CP3 remembered.
Arenas robbed himself of his best basketball
The best thing about Arenas’ prime years was that he was a former second-round pick by the Golden State Warriors who had worked extremely hard to get better and took advantage of the opportunities when he got them. He always had the talent, but his work ethic didn’t match that talent early and he also had some problems with maturity.
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Sadly, the drive that pushed him to the top of the NBA eventually robbed him of his prime years.
Also in 2007, when he was dominating the league, he suffered a meniscus tear that wasn’t supposed to derail him long-term. However, Arenas himself said he returned too soon after that, calling himself an arrogant basketball player for thinking he could just play through that kind of injury. Eventually, he had to have a total of three surgeries on that knee and he was evidently not close to being the same player he was before the meniscus tear.
Gil only lasted in the NBA until 2012 and he retired in 2013 after his short stint in China.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.