Many people think that Gilbert Arenas‘ career would’ve been far better than it was if it wasn’t for injuries. Even though the NBA veteran doesn’t deny those claims, he thinks that other players have suffered more severe blows because of their injuries. On a recent episode of No Chill Gill, Arenas was asked by a fan about his Mt. Rushmore of injured players. Surprisingly, the 42-year-old excluded himself to make space for some other former stars.
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The fan included Arenas on his list of injured players (who would’ve had much better careers if not for injuries) alongside Jay Williams, Grant Hill, and a toss-up between Yao Ming and John Wall. While this list makes a lot of sense, the three-time All-Star had his own list of players for the Mt. Rushmore. He said, “My Mt. Rushmore, I’m going to go, Penny Hardaway, Derrick Rose, T-Mac.” After the first three names, Arenas seemed confused about the fourth spot on the list.
He could have included himself on the list considering the kind of damage his career suffered because of injuries, but he believed that there were other players more worthy to be on the list. After careful consideration, he included Bill Walton as the last person on the list.
The list makes a lot of sense, considering how D-Rose, Penny Hardaway, and T-Mac, were all touted to be generational talents before major injuries thwarted their career trajectory. The same can be said about Bill Walton as well.
After naming the top four, Arenas also had an honorable mention for the list, and he yet again excluded himself to make space for Brandon Roy. Even though this time the NBA veteran let himself off the hook, he has expressed his disappointment regarding the long list of injuries he had in his career.
Gilbert Arenas injury timeline
Arenas was the second round, 31st overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. A few years later, his career started to take off as he won the NBA Most Improved Player award in 2003 and made consecutive All-Star appearances from 2005 to 2007. However, his struggle with injuries was already taking shape from 2003 as he missed 27 games due to an abdominal injury. According to the Washington Post, he started in 80 games in the next two seasons and 73 games in the third season. After that it was pretty much over for him. In the 2007-08 season, Arenas only played 13 regular season games because of a knee injury.
The following year, he made his season debut when there were only eight games left in the regular season, as he was struggling with the same knee injury. After back-to-back disappointments, Arenas couldn’t recover from the injuries and that impacted his career. The 2009-10 suspension because of the handgun controversy was the nail in the coffin for Arenas. On his podcast, he had unveiled that the late, great Kobe Bryant wanted him to come to LA, but he was so caught up with the injuries and suspensions that he thought that going to LA with so many issues would be a problem. And that is why he went to Memphis.
