Stunning new details emerged yesterday of the chilling moment when Gilbert Arenas challenged his Washington Wizards teammate to a locker room duel — as the troubled hoopster pleaded guilty to gun possession.
Arenas first came unhinged on Javaris Crittenton during an argument about a card game aboard a Dec. 19 team flight — threatening to “burn” Crittenton’s Cadillac Escalade or “shoot him in the face,” according to prosecutor Chris Kavanaugh.
But Crittenton snapped back that he would “shoot the f- -k out of Arenas” and “shoot Arenas in his” surgically repaired knee, court records say.
Two days later, Arenas arrived at the Verizon Center carrying at least one gun in his backpack, court records show.
He then “placed four firearms” on Crittenton’s chair, as well as a handwritten note reading “PICK 1,” prosecutors said. Those handguns were a .50-caliber Desert Eagle, a 500 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, a .45-caliber semi-automatic and a 9mm Browning pistol.
Crittenton came in and said, “What’s this?” and Arenas replied, “You said you were going to shoot me, so pick one,” according to Kavanaugh.
Crittenton picked up one gun, hurled it across the locker room and pulled out a gun of his own, court papers say.
Arenas then packed his guns into a suitcase and asked another Wizards player to take the case to his car in the team garage, according to the records.
When the other player couldn’t identify Arenas’ car, he left the case in the garage.
Later that day, Wizards management learned there had been guns in the locker room, confronted Arenas about it, then told security to get the weapons from the garage and take them out of DC and into Virginia where Arenas lives, according to court records.
On Dec. 24 — a full three days later — “attorneys for the Wizards organization and an attorney for Arenas notified” the US Attorney’s Office in DC that Arenas had carried the guns into the locker room on Dec. 21, records state. DC cops later that day went to Virginia, where the guns were surrendered to them.
After all the handgun hijinks, a subdued Arenas admitted yesterday to carrying a pistol into DC without a license.
“Playing with firearms is no joke,” said US Attorney Channing Phillips in a jab at the hoopster for placing the guns in front of Crittenton’s locker as a prank and then making light of the confrontation after The Post reported it exclusively.
Arenas — who has been indefinitely suspended without pay and is likely to lose his $100 million contract — will receive between no jail time and six months under a plea agreement when he is sentenced for the felony on March 26.
Additional reporting by Peter Vecsey