According to ESPN.com, Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas says he faked a knee injury so that a young teammate could get more playing time in a pre-season game.
Arenas told his coach Flip Saunders that his knee was bothering him before a game against the Atlanta Hawks. But the injury was a ruse by Arenas, who served a 50 game suspension last season because of a felony conviction for bringing guns into the locker room, to get his teammate Nick Young a starting spot.
“I told [Young] I’d sacrifice playing tonight so he can get some time in because I know he’s kind of frustrated he’s not getting a chance to crack the [small forward] position, especially since we’re going three guards,” said a smiling Arenas. “So I told him I’ll go and fake an injury or say something’s wrong with me so you can start.”
Young played alongside rookie sensation John Wall and scored a team high 24 points in 31 minutes of play. In a previous interview Arenas admitted that he was only in Washington to show John Wall the ropes and “move on.”
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