Gilbert Arenas Tried to Convince Both Nick Young and Michael Beasley to Join Big 3 Last Season
It has been well documented how close Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young are outside of basketball. Both can be seen on each other. The two former teammates spent three seasons in Washington before Gilbert was sent to Orlando for Rashad Lewis. In a separate trade, the Magic sent Vince Carter to the Phoenix Suns for Hedo Turkoglu.
In a recent interview with Gilbert Arenas, shared with me that he attempted to get Nick Young to join the Big 3. Young was very close to committing, but he had a deal in China on the table.
“He was minutes from saying yes, this year! He was working on his deal to go to China and didn’t want to comment and then had to back out. So, when he got back from China, I went to China and he ended up playing. I was able to get in contact with him and by the time I got back, it was too late to add him. He was going to join the Big 3 this year. Most likely he will play next season unless he has an offer somewhere. I also tried to get Michael Beasley to join, but he was negotiating a deal in China. However, that fell through because he signed with the Pistons,” said Arenas.
Last season, Beasley spent most of 2018-2019 with the Los Angeles Lakers before being traded along with Ivica Zubac to the Clippers for Mike Muscala. A couple of days before the trade, Beasley issued a statement referencing an alleged incident with then Lakers coach Luke Walton. After a loss against the Golden State Warriors.
“This past Saturday after the Warriors game, Coach Walton and our team had a conversation after a tough loss. Despite reports to the contrary, there was nothing physical between Coach Walton, me, or any other teammate. I’ve sat back in the past when stories have been twisted and misreported, but I won’t do that this time. I respect Luke and I respect this team. We are trying to win a championship together.”
At the time no one major platform reported that the incident between players and Walton almost became physical. The Athletic’s Shams Charania was the first to report the encounter according to his sources described the incident “an emotionally-charged verbal exchange” and “heated scene” it stopped short of turning physical.”
In postgame locker room, Luke Walton preached to players on playing unselfishly, sources said, when several veteran players snapped back. As one source described it, “Heated scene.” https://t.co/w7YXNeVgRl
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019
Then reports from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and the Los Angeles Times’ Tania Ganguli also stated it stopped short of turning physical.
Heard the same. Josh Hart, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee were frustrated and got a bit heated, but it never came close to getting physical, I’m told. https://t.co/roZ7LuthBE
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) February 3, 2019
Earlier this week, it was announced that the Detriot Pistons would waive Michael Beasley to make room for Joe Johnson. The Pistons signed Johnson to a one year deal after, he won the Big 3 championship and its regular-season MVP.
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