Chapter 85: Invincible.
Every NBA season has a trade deadline. As the name implies, it's the last day teams can make trades for that season.
So, even if a team starts the season far over the salary cap and is paying a ton in luxury tax, what matters is how they look on the deadline.
Teams that don't want to pay the tax will go all out on this day, trying to lower their payroll to get under the cap or the tax threshold.
This year, the Wizards were one of those teams.
The Wizards' 'Big Three' finally managed to stay healthy this season, but due to poor form and morale, their record was still awful. The blowout win against the Cavs was one of the few highlights of their season.
But their star, Gilbert Arenas, wasn't satisfied with just that. He decided to make an even bigger splash.
He became the NBA's first 'Gun King' when he pulled a gun on his teammate, Javaris Crittenton, in a locker room altercation.
Even though he didn't fire the gun, as Chekhov's law might suggest, the incident still shattered his career and reputation.
Before this, Dwyane Wade had a famous 'throat-slash' celebration that the NBA later banned. The league, as the pinnacle of basketball worldwide, simply couldn't allow any crossing of lines into violence.
Arenas was suspended for the rest of the season and cooperated with a government investigation. There was even a chance he could end up in jail.
This incident pushed the Wizards, already considering a rebuild due to their poor performance, to make a final decision: they were opening up a fire sale.