Latest news with #ShootingGuards
Newsweek
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Newsweek
Where Is Javaris Crittenton Now? 'Shooting Guards' Revisits Gun Scandal
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Once a rising star in the NBA, Javaris Crittenton's career took a drastic turn after a now-infamous locker room incident involving guns and teammate Gilbert Arenas. The confrontation, once dismissed as a bizarre sports scandal, is now reexamined in Netflix's Untold: Shooting Guards. The documentary explores how that moment — and what followed — irreversibly changed Crittenton's life, leading to an unrelated manslaughter conviction and prison sentence. While Arenas moved on to become a media figure, Crittenton's path was shaped by tragedy, crime, and a long absence from public life. The Untold episode debuts amid renewed interest in the 2009 confrontation, which saw the two Washington Wizards players pull guns on each other in the team's locker room. Crittenton, who never played in the NBA again, ultimately served time for a fatal shooting in 2011. He was released from prison in 2023 and is now on probation, working with young men in Atlanta and attempting to reshape his narrative. Why It Matters The case remains one of the most notorious off-court incidents in NBA history, and Netflix's latest installment of Untold brings new attention to the personal and societal consequences of that moment. Titled Shooting Guards, the documentary frames the episode not as an isolated lapse but as a turning point that derailed two careers — especially that of Crittenton, who went from top NBA draft pick to convicted felon. Former Washington Wizards guard Javaris Crittenton appears in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Sept. 27, 2011. On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, Crittenton pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2011 shooting death of a... Former Washington Wizards guard Javaris Crittenton appears in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Sept. 27, 2011. On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, Crittenton pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2011 shooting death of a mother of four and was sentenced to 23 years in prison. More David Goldman/AP Photos What Happened Between Javaris Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas? Javaris Crittenton was selected 19th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2007 NBA Draft, joining a class that included Kevin Durant and Al Horford. After brief stints with the Lakers and Grizzlies, he landed with the Washington Wizards. It was there, in December 2009, that tensions with teammate Gilbert Arenas boiled over after a gambling dispute. According to People, Arenas brought unloaded firearms into the team locker room during practice, mocking Crittenton after a card game loss. Crittenton then pulled a loaded gun from his locker, prompting teammates to flee and ultimately setting off a public scandal. The NBA suspended both players for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. Arenas returned to the NBA, while Crittenton was released and never played another game. In April 2023, Javaris Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas reunited on Gil's Arena to reflect on their fallout. Despite legal advice to avoid contact, they said they kept in touch throughout the scandal. "It's crazy because even though we were going through that situation, we were still talking — even though the lawyers were like, 'Oh, don't talk to him right now.' We were still doing our thing," Gilbert said on the episode. Where is Javaris Crittenton Now? In 2011, Crittenton was arrested and later convicted in connection with the fatal shooting of Julian Jones, a 22-year-old mother of four in Atlanta. Prosecutors said his bullet accidentally hit Jones while seeking revenge for a robbery, according to AP News. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in 2015 and was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Crittenton was released from prison in 2023 after serving 10 years, People reported. His sentence was reduced and under the terms of his probation, he must abide by a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and complete 7,200 hours of community service over the next decade, People reported. Since his release, Crittenton has been coaching a youth basketball team and speaking at community centers like the Next Level Boys Academy in Atlanta. In 2024, he welcomed a new son and continues to post about family life on social media. What is Javaris Crittenton's Net Worth? According to Celebrity Net Worth, Crittenton earned approximately $4.1 million during his short NBA career. As of 2025, the outlet reported that his net worth is estimated to be just $10,000. What People Are Saying Javaris Crittenton posted about his family to Instagram on March 31: "I'll do whatever for them. I just want to keep a smile on their faces and always make them happy." Reddit user named u/pwilson319 posted on May 6: "There were truly no winners in this documentary. It was nice to see Gil self aware, but holy s***, he was an absolute a**; unsurprisingly there wasn't a leader in sight to tell Gil to chill the f*** out. Javaris isn't absolved either. Again, glad he acknowledged his mistakes but it felt like his reflections were just I'm just being jaded? Hopefully he can get his life together and continue to make amends. I remember being excited to watch this but it was a brutal reminder of the many warts of this franchise." What's Next Untold: Shooting Guards premiered on May 6 and is streaming now on Netflix. The next episode of the series drops on May 13. Titled Untold: The Liver King, the documentary follows Brian Johnson's journey from raw-meat influencer to internet celebrity, featuring interviews with family and partners and revealing how a steroid scandal shattered his all-natural image and sparked widespread backlash, according to Netflix's Tudum.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Untold: Shooting Guards review – a devastating tale of elite sport's ruthless cruelty
Elite sport has millions of stories about kids who didn't quite make it, but the bigger tragedy is the young adult who gets to the big leagues then throws it all away, because they can't cope with the life that success brings. It is peculiarly upsetting to watch from afar as a rare talent is undone by a personality flaw that has nothing to do with the game itself: this lad can do the difficult bit and get the ball in the net, but he can't withstand the pressure of the media's gaze, or the disappointment of sometimes not being picked? Can't someone please help him? The reliable US documentary strand Untold has found numerous variations on this sad old story over the years, and it's turned up a devastating one in Shooting Guards, which tracks the parallel lives of basketball pros Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton. The film starts with Crittenton emerging from a 10-year stint in prison. Advertisement We flip back to the two men's childhoods, with Arenas growing up in the relaxed San Fernando Valley without his mother, while Crittenton is raised in 'the hood' in Atlanta without his father or any male mentors. Both excel at basketball in high school and college before suffering minor setbacks in the NBA draft, the annual ceremony where professional teams take turns to recruit a college player for next season's rosters. Arenas shines in the pre-draft showcase games, but then jokes to reporters that he wants to use his imminent star status to become 'an international pimp', a faux pas he thinks is the reason he ends up at the Golden State Warriors, not a more glamorous team. Crittenton desperately wants to play for the Atlanta Hawks so he won't have to leave his home town, but is overlooked by them and goes to the Los Angeles Lakers. Neither player enjoys their first posting, with Crittenton becoming so homesick, isolated and depressed while stuck on the fringes of the Lakers team that he joins notorious LA street gang the Crips, mainly for the company. Both then move to the Washington Wizards, where Arenas is established as the team prankster by the time the nervous, defensive Crittenton arrives. When Crittenton wades into a minor argument about borrowed money on a flight home from an away fixture, Arenas spies a chance for a wind-up. This leads to the incident that will define their lives. Shooting Guards – with eerie convenience, 'shooting guard' is the name of the basketball position that both men play – is all the more affecting for underlining just how trivial and silly the events of December 2009 are. Arenas is ruthless when he can get a rise out of a teammate, and eventually he goads Crittenton into threatening to shoot him. At the next training session, Arenas lays three guns from his own collection on Crittenton's chair as a gag, only to find that Crittenton has brought in a gun of his own. But apart from Crittenton alarming his teammates by throwing one of Arenas's firearms across the room – it doesn't go off – that's it. Shots are not fired. It is no more than two boys being stupid. But the story gets out, with respected national media outlets adding entirely imaginary details to their versions. These young Black role models have, it is gravely announced, let everyone down. It is Arenas who exacerbates the controversy by aiming a finger-gun gesture at his teammates during a subsequent match, yet he and Crittenton are given the same draconian ban of 50 games. At the end of the suspension, Arenas returns, but the less-important player, Crittenton, is let go by the Wizards and is not picked up by any other team. His NBA dream is over. Advertisement Spiralling, Crittenton returns to Atlanta, where his visible wealth makes him a target. Having been robbed at gunpoint, he attempts to take revenge on the perpetrator some weeks later but accidentally shoots and kills an innocent bystander, 22-year-old mother of four Julian Jones, instead. In 2015, Crittenton pleads guilty to manslaughter. The film is clear that the victims who matter most here are Jones and her family: director Walter Thompson-Hernández includes an interview with the young woman's mother, talking of how much she will always be missed. But it is impossible not to also feel sympathy for the haunted Crittenton, who was never equipped to deal with his own talent; or indeed Arenas, whose achievements in the NBA are now tainted with regret because he took a joke too far. Untold: Shooting Guards sensitively examines the ruthless cruelties of top-level sport, and a society where some lonely, angry young men seem born to lose – even if they really should be winners. • Untold: Shooting Guards is on Netflix now
