Michael Jordan wasn’t the only one to “take things personally.” Gilbert Arenas also recalled a time a player fueled the revenge fire in his belly and made him turn his efforts up from a ten to an eleven. But Gil’s origin story comes with an embarrassing asterisk: he was once defeated in 20 straight 1v1 matchups. The man to hand him those beatings? A rookie Chris Paul.
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CP3 came into the NBA as an undersized point guard, one who was heavily lauded for his ability to orchestrate half-court offenses with ease. The 12-time All-Star’s scoring prowess was even overshadowed by his half-court skillset, which is a reason that Paul still gets pegged as an underrated baller in his 20th season in the league. But rookie CP3 was a different animal, and he wasn’t about to slow down when the fates paired him against Arenas.
Gil retold this embarrassing tale during his recent appearance on the popular Playback stream. He stated that a trainer put him in touch with Paul, who was trying out for the draft and needed someone to spar with in the offseason.
“It’s June, so I’m not in shape. I’m chillin’,” joked Arenas. “He beat me in ones.” Gil started to laugh remembering how he responded to the situation. “‘Run it back real quick young fella.’ Beat me again.'”
Arenas then revealed how bad the matchup got. “He beat me 20 times,” he admitted. But Arenas didn’t have a pity party recounting this tale. He told the group that if Paul were asked who was the “hardest MFer” he faced in the NBA, that his name would get dropped. “Because I can tell you I took that sh** so personal,” Gil touted. That when we played him in the season…oh no.”
Gilbert Arenas says rookie Chris Paul beat him in 1-on-1 20 times in a row:
“He beat me in 1s. Run it back real quick. Beat me again. Run it back young fella. He beat me 20 times… I was 0-20.”
CP3 has been that guy his whole career.
: @WatchPlayback pic.twitter.com/HGB33j5AWq
— CP3REGION (@cp3region) March 20, 2025
Gil channeling his inner Michael Jordan did come to fruition as the first two times he would play Paul in the NBA would lead to two straight Wizards wins. His first ever game against CP saw him drop 33 points while his second game led to a 30 points and 11 assists night.
Arenas doesn’t have to hide his pride too much. CP3 is low-key one of the best 1v1 players in the history of the NBA and still shows that he can go toe-to-toe with anyone even at 39 years old.
Some of Paul’s most clutch shots in his career have come after beating a wing when he got the iso on them. The losses hit Gil harder because he’s a fierce competitor, but also because of his love of 1v1 basketball.
Arenas once pitched that 1v1s should replace the NBA Draft
Arenas loves 1v1 ball so much that he once made an argument that the NBA should use it in lieu of the NBA draft. His main reasoning? Because it shows what players would crack under pressure.
“I wanna see if you all played against each other ten times, how many times did you beat him?” he screamed on Paul George’s podcast. Did your brain say ‘he’s sorry and you ain’t playing today.'” Gil added that if a player loses constant 1v1s, but then claims to still be “hungry,” it’s telling to him what kind of drive they really have.
The irony is that Gil’s own words came back to bite him since he himself was unable to best CP3 in their 20 singles games all those years ago. The now 43-year-old was only a few years older than Paul when they had those showdowns. Perhaps the two should run it back one more time to see if he can prove something to himself.
