NBA super-agent Arn Tellem — representative of players like Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and Tracy McGrady — gives his take on the NBA’s gun policy on the Huffington Post today.
The NBA has a zero-tolerance policy on firearms. The league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement — implemented in 2005 — forbids guns at any NBA venue or event. If I were writing policy, I’d go even farther: Players could own guns for hunting or to defend their homes, but they would not be allowed to pack heat.
Tellem is uniquely qualified to speak on this issue — in addition to his experience as an NBA player agent, he is a victim of firearm violence, having been mugged at gunpoint in 1974.
That doesn’t mean he’s right.
The NBA’s gun policy isn’t the issue. The problem is everyone knows, without a felony conviction — the Wizards won’t be able to void Gilbert Arenas’ contract. The league’s conduct policy — which is written into every player’s contract — has no teeth. If losing his massive income registered as a real possibility, Arenas might not have been quite so eager to use his arsenal as a prop in his joke on Javaris Crittenton.
But that may change. Just as the legendary confrontation between Chris Mills and the Trail Blazers’ team bus served as the inspiration for the current gun policy, you can bet that the Arenas/Crittenton affair will inspire a while new set of guidelines about what constitutes conduct unbecoming of an NBA player when the new CBA is negotiated after the 2011 season.
Arn Tellem on the NBA’s Gun Policy originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 17:14:34.
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