Former NBA star point guard Gilbert Arenas was once one of the most potent scorers in the league. Arenas had reached stardom in the NBA, becoming a bonafide superstar behind his offensive prowess. It’s been nearly eight years since he last graced an NBA hardwood floor. In the time since then, he has been involved several different ventures that kept him around the game of basketball some type of capacity over the last several years.

Gilbert Arena’s NBA career

Following spending two seasons at the University of Arizona, Arenas was selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.

He showed promise in his first two years with the Warriors. Still, He truly worked his way into stardom with the Washington Wizards, where he spent 7 1/2 seasons with the franchise earning all three ofAll-Star Game selections, both of his All-NBA Third Team nods, an All-NBA Second Team selection, and won the NBA Most Improved Award. During that stretch was one of the league’s best scorers, where he embraced the nickname “Agent 0” while leading the team to four playoff appearances, including an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

However, the injuries began to pile up as he suffered a torn MCL near the tail end of the 2006-07 season. Arenas missed 199 games from the 2007-08 campaign to 2009-10 season due to knee injuries and an ugly firearms incident in the locker room that drew a lengthy suspension that occurred in December of 2008. He had missed the bulk of the 2009-10 season due to his involvement in the situation.

Months before that entire ordeal, Arenas had a six-year, $111 million deal with the Wizards in July 2008. He never played out the contract as he moved to the Orlando Magic in December 2010, which he struggled to produce at a high level despite the Magic reaching the playoffs. The team used their one-time amnesty cause on Arenas to waive him.

He joined the Memphis Grizzlies for the following season as Mike Conley’s backup, which turned out to be his final NBA season at age 30.

Gilbert Arenas’ life after NBA

In the time that has followed his playing days in the NBA, Arenas has stayed around the game.

He had played the 2012-13 season with the Shanghai Sharks in the Chinese Basketball Association, where he averaged 20.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 14 games played with eight starts.

Since then, Arenas has stayed around the sport of basketball over the years as he worked with Complex over the last few years that included a daily show called “Out of Bounds.” He currently has a successful podcast “THe No Chill Podcast” and has his own production company called “No Chill Productions” that he has had up on YouTube since August 2008.

Arenas also took a chance to play in Ice Cube’s BIG3 League last summer, which he was the player captain for the expansion team called Enemies. He played in seven games averaging 6.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 7.9 minutes per contest. Arenas has already vouched on playing in the BIG3 league another season but looks to have more interest in the business side of helping improve the ratings for the company.

Back in January, Arenas also voiced that he would pick up coaching basketball after Kobe Bryant passing as it was what the former Los Angeles Lakers had asked him to do.

Gilbert Arenas’ NBA legacy

Arenas has demonstrated to have star power talent on the court as one of the league’s top scorers when he was at the top of his game.

However, that was disappointingly short-lived due to persistent leg injuries that prevented him from performing at an elite level. Meanwhile, the firearms incident will always be tied to his name during his time in the league. There will also be those that point to his six-year, $111 million deal with the Wizards as being one of the worst in league history given how things played out after that point.

Arenas’ NBA career is one that could have seen him experience much more, but things unfolded out of his favor with injury woes and bad decision making. That shouldn’t overlook the success entirely that he did have when he was at his best.