This week, Mike Wise of the Washington Post wrote a great two-part profile of the Washington Wizards’ star point guard, Gilbert Arenas. A veteran player at the ripe old age of 24, he’s long been one of the most eccentric guys in the NBA. Wise went beyond the now-clichéd stories of his basketball quirkiness and explored his personal life, past and present, and put together a compelling depiction of a real and troubled guy who’s worked his ass off to get where he is–successful and famous and highly-respected–but with skeletons in his closet that he will never fully escape. I wrote earlier this week that there’s some great sports writing being published right now, and this absolutely belongs in that category.
- Part I: The Psychic Scars That Shaped an NBA Star
- Part II: Arenas’s Summer: Bizarre and Absurd
- Mike Wise’s online chat about the series (in which Wise defends Arenas against a lot of criticism that struck me as harsh and, to a degree, absurd)
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