Gilbert Arenas has a habit of laughing in conversation. Sometimes, it’s simply because he’s amused by his own words. At other moments, it feels like the ever-opinionated Arenas chuckles because knows he’s about to cause a stir. The 12-year NBA veteran is 42 now, but he’s been capturing basketball fans’ attention—for a variety of different reasons—for some 20-odd years.
A penchant for deep threes, athletic finishes, and late-game heroics brought the high-scoring guard accolades including three All-Star Game appearances, a signature Adidas sneaker, and the cover of NBA Live 08. A 2009 incident involving guns in the Washington Wizards locker room, and the resulting suspension, brought him infamy. In the ensuing years, Arenas’s self-awareness—particularly his understanding that some people enjoy him while others find him insufferable—has aided his evolution into a media personality.
After bouncing between podcasts, digital talk shows, and occasional appearances on ESPN, Arenas unveiled Gil’s Arena in 2023. The Underdog Fantasy show, which airs live from his basement, is co-hosted by Arenas and Josiah Johnson with a supporting cast of current and former pros including Kenyon Martin, Brandon Jennnings, Rashad McCants, and Lexie Brown. With episodes exceeding two hours, Gil’s Arena represents his ideal product: a grandiose blend of in-depth basketball discussion and constant provocation.
There are numerous former (and current) NBA players with podcasts at the moment, but Arenas might be the only one who started blogging for the league during the prime of his career. And his understanding of the internet, along with his brazen attempts to mix hyperbole and nuance, have helped him stand out in a congested sports media landscape.
Keeping his edge means keeping up with what’s next, too. “I’m always consuming information, so I’m always going to be ahead,” he says. “I’m watching kids stuff, I’m watching Mr. Beast, I’m watching all realms to see if anybody moves faster before anyone else notices.”
During a lengthy conversation in March, Arenas offered his thoughts on the sports media industrial complex, complaints about the modern NBA, and more.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Gilbert Arenas: As with anything, you don’t know where it’s going to take you initially. So at first, it was speaking on what I did throughout the week. Then I realized what type of tool it was: an in-depth perception from the player’s point of view. When we’re doing interviews with the media, it’s more controlled. We’re really watching what we’re saying and it’s going to be the same cliched things across the board. Everyone gravitated to me going on NBA.com and really just speaking on what I did throughout the week. So I understood, really early, the power of the pen and how to manipulate words. We call it trolling now, but I understood shock value.
[Laughs] It’s human nature. When we’re arguing back and forth, we only hear key words that we don’t like. If I say, “Yeah, LeBron is better than Jordan,” anything I say after that is meaningless. I understood that. So if I say, “I’m better than Steph,” I know they’re going to stop right there—before, “by the age of 25.” Once people start hearing, “I’m better than Steph,” they’ll make it go viral. And when the people who are listening to the whole thing try to come back and prove me wrong, they go, “Ah, we didn’t see he added…that part.”
Your willingness to say almost anything, intentionally, serves you well in this current era of loud voices getting the most attention. Once you decided to pursue media, who, if anyone, did you study to get better?
The Charles Barkleys and the Shaqs. You study what makes Stephen A. Smith good. You watch what made Skip Bayless good. And then you factor in how far they’re pushing the lines. Then, when Shannon [Sharpe] came around, he has his cognac and cigar—plus, some of the stuff he says, I’m like, “You’re allowed to….say that?!’”
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