Brendan Haywood recalls the gun incident involving Gilbert Arenas: 'It was the dumbest thing of all time'

Brendan Haywood spent his first eight-and-a-half seasons in the NBA playing for the Washington Wizards, which acquired him after the Cleveland Cavaliers picked him 20th overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. Considering this, Haywood was playing for D.C. when the infamous 2009 gun incident involving Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton took place.

During his recent appearance on the "Run Your Race" podcast, "Big Huey" narrated the story to Theo Pinson and called it the stupidest thing ever.

"The gun situation with Javaris and Gil, it was the dumbest thing of all time," said the retired center. "And it's two guys that just let their pride and ego get in the way."

It wasn't even about their money

According to Haywood, it was unbelievable because it was Javale McGee who actually owed Earl Boykins money during that trip. However, everybody started getting in on the issue, and Gil started joking about Crittenton owing him money. That's when things snowballed and got out of hand.

"Agent Zero" and Javaris got into an argument. Crittenton threatened to shoot Arenas in the knee, and Gil responded by boasting about the guns he owned. Cooler heads prevailed, and Haywood thought the issue would die down over the weekend. But when they got back to practice on Monday, Gil brought a gold handgun and placed it inside Crittenton's locker. When the Wizards wing saw it, he went nuts.

"When I'm opening the door, that's when Javaris threw Gil's Desert Eagle across the locker room," remembered Haywood. "That's cuz I opened the door and our team trainer come sprinting out 'Oh they got guns, they crazy' and I hear something like metal hit a locker. I look over there, it's like this big, big gold Desert Eagle and I'm like 'What the hell?'"

Cooler heads prevailed, but the damage was done

The two began shouting at each other, and with Javaris claiming that he brought his guns, too, everyone inside the locker room was scared. Fortunately, after their war of words, both players cooled down. But the damage was already done.

"They brought the guns to the locker room, and we live in DC and we're close to the White House," explained Brendan. "And we have certain gun rules and regulations and so even if they didn't have smoke no more, they'd done too much. Once they found out that guns were in the locker room and the media got hold of the story, heads had to roll."

Arenas and Crittenton pleaded guilty to gun charges and were suspended for the rest of the season. Gil was able to come back, but he had never found his old form. Javaris was waived two days after the end of the suspension and did not play another NBA game after the incident. Additionally, he is currently serving a jail sentence for a 2011 drive-by shooting incident.