Gilbert Arenas revealed he had the chance to join the Los Angeles Lakers once, however he simply did not want to. Back in 2011, Arenas was a free agent, after the Magic waived him to remove the remaining salary he was owed.
According to Arenas, the Lakers expressed interest to sign ‘Agent Zero’ for the rest of the season, however the three-time NBA All-Star and a three-time member of the All-NBA Team did everything in his power to sabotage the meeting.
“I botched the meeting. I sabotaged it,” Arenas said in his appearance on Dan Le Batard’s “South Beach Sessions” podcast, as transcribed by Audacy Sports’ Jesse Pantuosco (hat tip to thecomeback.com).
“They’re asking me, ‘When can you be ready to come?’ Maybe a month? It’s March. To be honest you don’t really need a player like me. You just need to tweak the second unit, make them a little faster and you guys are perfect.”
“And that was my answer. Like you didn’t really need me. Thirty days (left in the regular season), so I can go back home. I’m not coming to L.A,” Arenas said.
“You guys are going to crucify me. “That’s when Kobe came out and said, ‘I want Agent Zero.’ And I’m like, with all due respect, Kobe wants a player that no longer exists mentally.”
