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Gilbert Jay Arenas (born January 6, 1982 in Los Angeles, California) is a professional basketball player of Cuban and African-American descent currently with the NBA's Washington Wizards. more...

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Rise to prominence

Both a point guard and shooting guard, Arenas previously played for the Golden State Warriors, who drafted him in the second round (31st overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft out of the University of Arizona. Although the Warriors did not enjoy much team success during Gilbert's tenure with them, he quickly established himself as one of the league's bright young talents. In 2003, his second year in the league, Gilbert was selected to receive the NBA Most Improved Player Award. After that season was one of the most sought after free agents of the NBA off season. Gilbert signed as a free agent with the Washington Wizards, reportedly after flipping a coin ten times to decide between the Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers. After the coin came up seven times in the Clippers favor, Gilbert knew he had to sign with Washington.

Arenas had a disappointing first season with the Wizards, battling a strained abdominal muscle injury all season. Gilbert enjoyed great success in his second season in Washington. He teamed up with shooting guard Larry Hughes (22.0 points per game) in 2004-05 to give the Wizards the highest scoring backcourt duo in the NBA and was selected to his first NBA All-Star Game. He guided the team to a 45-win season and its first playoff berth since 1998. Arenas led the team in scoring with 25.5 ppg, and finished seventh in the league in that category. He also finished sixth in the league in steals per game in 2004-05 with 1.74 (Hughes led the league with 2.89 steals per game).

Known for his fierce competitiveness, strong work ethic, and somewhat unusual behavior, Arenas quickly became a fan favorite in Washington (An example of his quirky behavior includes during a regular season game, his attempt to make a free-throw by bouncing his shot off the floor, which missed badly and drew confused stares as people wondered if it was an actual free-throw attempt). In the fifth game of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2005, Gilbert hit a 16-foot fadeaway as time expired to give the Wizards a 112-110 victory over the Kirk Hinrich-led Chicago Bulls .

2005-06 NBA season

Arenas had a career year during the 2005-06 season in which he averaged 29.2 points, which ranked fourth among the scoring leaders, two steals (also fourth), and 6.1 assists per game. Despite his accomplishments, neither fans nor coaches would select Arenas to the 2006 All-Star Game. He was able to get in due to the injury to Indiana Pacers forward/center Jermaine O'Neal. Since then, he has been averaging 31 ppg on 48 percent shooting, about 2.5 steals per game, and 6.7 assists per game. Additionally, he was also able to get in to the Three-point Shootout because Phoenix Suns guard Raja Bell was excused due to a family illness. Arenas was the runner up to Dirk Nowitzki in the contest .

Read more at Wikipedia.org