Stephen A. Smith Urges Gilbert Arenas to Take Gambling Ar…

Stephen A. Smith doesn’t think that Gilbert Arenas should be joking about potentially facing serious time over gambling charges he was hit with last week.

In the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith show, the First Take host responded to a clip of Arenas joking that everyone who hangs out with Smith ends up getting arrested. Around the 3-minute mark in the video below, Smith acknowledged that he respects Arenas, but wants him to be serious about the gravity of his federal charges.

“Bro, I need you not to play around,” Smith began. “My brother, I do not want to see you in jail at all. It’s not a good look. It’s nothing to laugh about. It’s nothing to joke about when the feds come raiding your home.”

“I don’t want to see that,” Smith continued. “I can assure you that anybody who wants to do business with you, I’m one of those people, ESPN, Underdog, a whole bunch of sponsors and advertisers, we don’t want to see that.”

After calling Arenas a “special talent,” he reflected on the 2009 incident when Arenas and his Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton were involved in a highly publicized gun incident in the team’s locker room.

“What really exacerbated the situation was that you had a game a night or two later, and you were joking and fading, acting like you were shooting guns during the introductions or when the warm ups were taking place,” recalled Smith. “(NBA Commissioner) David Stern went ballistic.”

“It’s not a joking matter to other people,” continued Smith, connecting Arenas’ unserious nature then with how unserious he is now. “And the reality is that, my brother, it shouldn’t be a joking matter to you.”

In a press release shared at the end of July, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California released a statement detailing Arenas’ arrest, alleging he was a part of a group of people running an illegal gambling business from a rental property he owns in Los Angeles.

“From September 2021 to July 2022, Gershman, Arenas, and the other defendants operated an illegal gambling business,” the statement read. “Arenas rented out an Encino mansion he owned for the purpose of hosting high-stakes illegal poker games. At Arenas’ direction, Arthur Kats, 51, of West Hollywood, staged the mansion to host the games, found co-conspirators to host the games, and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas’ behalf.”

Arenas and the five other people, including 49-year-old Yevgeni Gershman, an individual suspected of being a member of an Israeli organized crime group, were arrested on a federal indictment and have been charged with one count each of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and operating an illegal gambling business. Arenas is also facing one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

In a stream after he was released from detainment, Arenas suggested that he would be “snitching” on his co-defendants.

“Good luck in court. I’m pretty sure I ain’t gonna be there when it’s starting to go, cause, yeah, I’m snitching,” he said during a livestream. “There was one n***a in there, he must have been the head… They gave him a translator, the translator said, ‘Yeah, you’re not going to [be bonded] out today, probably next week.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, it’s okay, it’s okay.’ Hey, what about me? Where my lawyer?! … I’m not used to this shit right here, this like Kwame Brown house, there’s seven n***as in this room. One shitter, six n***as.”

ComplexCon returns to Las Vegas on October 25–26, 2025, with over 300 brands and live performances by Young Thug, YEAT & Friends, Peso Pluma, Central Cee, Ken Carson, and more. Get your tickets now.