WASHINGTON -- Four Washington Wizards players have been
fined $10,000 apiece for making light of Gilbert Arenas' antics
before Tuesday's game at Philadelphia.
The fines were assessed Friday night to Andray Blatche, JaVale
McGee, Randy Foye and Nick Young.
The four players were among a group that surrounded Arenas when
he pointed his index fingers at teammates as if he were firing a
pair of guns during a pregame huddle. A photo shows most of the
players smiling or laughing.
"It was foolish, stupid, immature," said Foye, one of the four Wizards fined, "but I've got to be a man and accept my penalty and I apologize to the fans and the organization for behaving in that manner."
Arenas has been banned indefinitely by the NBA while under
investigation by federal and local authorities for possible
violations of the strict gun laws in the nation's capital.
Antawn Jamison addressed the sellout crowd before Friday night's 104-97 win over the Orlando Magic and spoke of being "very embarrassed."
"We never meant to make light of the situation," Jamison said.
The team is doing its best to remove all traces of Arenas from the Verizon Center, the place where he infamously brought some guns to work.
Coach Flip Saunders said he met with the grand jury investigating Arenas on Thursday, and some of his players were giving their versions of the story on Friday between the morning shootaround and the game against the Magic. Foye said he met with authorities for some two hours, and DeShawn Stevenson said Fabricio Oberto did as well. Stevenson said he met with his lawyer and will go before the grand jury soon.
"I just went in there, everything I said was truthful," Foye said without elaborating. "I was honest with authorities."
Saunders also confirmed he banned gambling on the team plane on Dec. 21, the date of the locker room confrontation between Arenas and Javaris Crittenton in which Arenas pulled out guns he was keeping in his locker. Various reports have given conflicting details of what happened between the two players, but their dispute began during a card game on a trip home from the West Coast two days earlier.
Saunders said he instituted the ban because gambling "led to a confrontation" and he wanted "to avoid those situations" from happening again.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.