Gilbert Arenas will likely miss Washington Wizards' regular season opener
The Washington Wizards will likely kick off their regular season Thursday night against the Orlando Magic without their three-time All-Star, Gilbert Arenas.
Arenas missed his second straight practice yesterday because of a sore right ankle, an injury he originally suffered during training camp but that he aggravated last Friday in practice.
Arenas did manage to play in the first three pre-season games for Washington but ended up missing out on the last three with a strained right groin. He also faked a knee injury on Tuesday 12 October against the Atlanta Hawks to give up his starting spot to
a team-mate, but by all accounts this one is real.
"He's got soreness in his ankle, a little bit of fluid," said Washington coach Flip Saunders. "It's kind of day to day. Kind of wait to see how it is."
Because Arenas has missed so much time, Saunders said it wasn’t challenging to get his team ready for the regular season without him.
"We've prepared, we've played a lot without him," he said. "So, we'd love to have him. If we don't have him, I still think we can go out there and be effective."
Saunders said that Al Thornton has been playing well in the last couple of practices since missing two games with a sprained left ankle. If Arenas can’t go on Thursday, it will be Thornton
who takes his spot.
"I think now, Al's back. He's healthy. Al's played extremely well the last week, got his legs under him from when he was hurt," Saunders said.
Arenas, known for his odd humour and unpredictable antics, is coming off a 50-game suspension he incurred midway through last season for bringing guns into the Wizards' locker room. In
addition to the fake injury, Arenas has also made some interesting comments about the Wizards' new point guard John Wall, last summer’s first overall draft pick.
"Right now I'm out there to hit open shots, teach John the ins and the outs of the game, and then eventually go on and move on - on my way," Arenas said early in the pre-season. "This
is the NBA. There's few players that stay in the same city, so right now the city is John's. I'm not here to fight anybody."
Arenas hasn't spoken to reporters since faking the injury almost two weeks ago.
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