Gilbert Arenas Admits to $10,000 ‘CryBaby James’ T-Shirt Fiasco Over Jay-Z’s ‘Blow the Whistle’

Houston Rockets power forward Tari Eason’s attempt to troll the Golden State Warriors from the bench heavily backfired against him during their game night. After mocking the Dubs with the phrase ‘Warriors come out to play,’ his calls were well heard by the Bay Area team that handed the Rockets a resounding 110-133 defeat. Gilbert Arenas and the crew reacted to this incident, in the latest ‘Gil’s Arena’ episode, and recalled some of the whacky trash-talk incidents from his playing days.

Arenas described an iconic attempt to troll LeBron James in the 2008 first-round playoff series between the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers. That same year, rapper Jay-Z released the track ‘Blow the Whistle’, which contained a lyric referring to Wizards player DeShawn Stevenson calling LeBron James ‘overrated.’ The line was supposed to be a sneak diss against Stevenson and Soulja Boy, implying that Jay-Z or LeBron James won’t waste their time responding to such ‘nobodies.’

The Wizards squad, including Gilbert Arenas, caught on to the lyrics of this track and came up with a hilarious idea to troll LeBron James. Arenas convinced Papa John’s to create the ‘No. 23 Crybaby James’ t-shirt for the arena and brought Soulja Boy for Game 6 of the series. Describing James’ reaction to such trash-talking, Arenas said, “I don’t think he liked it too much. Oh, he a little angry y’all!”

Sure, the Wizards had invoked the wrath of LeBron James as they faced a 2-4 First Round exit against the Cleveland Cavaliers. James averaged an outstanding 29.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 7.7 assists, per game in that series, thus proving the lyrics from the Jay-Z track to be true.

When the crew asked Arenas if he regretted that decision, the 3x All-Star gleefully replied, “He do nothing to me, I wasn’t playing! I ain’t have to worry about none of that smoke!” If we counted all the moments of teams or players trying to troll or trash-talk LeBron James, this could be the best attempt that resulted in a horrible failure.

The Wizards had to bear the consequences of trolling LeBron James

Washington’s attempt to troll LeBron James proved costly for the players and the team. After a 2-4 defeat against the Cavs in the series, the Wizards were handed their third straight first-round exit in 2008. Furthermore, the ‘co-conspirators’ to this troll, Papa Johns Pizza, also had to donate $10,000 to the LeBron James Family Foundation to portray they intended no harm or disrespect in circulating those t-shirts.

This was in addition to another $10,000 that Papa Johns pledged to donate to the Cleveland Youth Fund. Their lousy attempt at taunting the King also upset several Cavs fans. The t-shirts carrying the Papa John’s pizza logo disappointed many in Cleveland, who urged a boycott of the national pizza chain.

As a result, Papa Johns had to face serious issues conducting business, especially given they have dozens of outlets in Northeast Ohio. Cavs fans accused the brand of taking sides in this series, for which the franchise apologized by donating $20,000 to Ohio-based charities.