Arenas Brings Back Familiar Kicks For His Return ‘Home’

SNEAKECHAMP.COM is a website dedicated to Gilbert Arenas as the “leagues first true sneakerhead and curator of the ultimate shoe collection” for the 2010-2011 season. The website records all of the different kicks that “Agent Uno” adorns with a picture and name of the shoe in month to month calendar style.

Something we saw as interesting is that on this website the entry for February 4, 2011 shows a pair of Jordan 6 Rings Foamposite Black/Varsity Royal. For Gilbert’s recent return to the Capital, he wasn’t wearing those Jordan’s, he instead wore a pair of his Adidas Gil-Zero’s; his signature shoe when he was the king of this city, and an All-Pro, All-Star point-guard.

Adidas terminated Arenas's contract hours after his January 16, 2010 guilty plea for bringing concealed weapons into the Wizards locker room. Since then he’s worn a variety of different shoes from brands like Under Armor, Nike, Jordan and even Dolce Gabbana’s (pictured below).

In an interview with The Mike Wise Show with Holden Kushner Arenas expressed remorse over his poor decision-making. He stated that he hopes the fan-base he electrified from 2003-2007 could see past his mistakes and remember him for what he meant to the Washington D.C. area.

"At some point I hope they can forgive me as a person." Said Arenas. "Maybe not as a basketball player. Maybe I wasn't worth the contract. Hey, I don't think anyone's worth $100 million if Michael Jordan wasn't. But hey, that's what Abe Pollin thought I was worth, and if someone put $100 million in front of you, you're gonna take it too."

Against his former team 'Mr. Hibachi' was the first Magic player out on the court during shoot around. While taking part in his first pregame as an opposing player at the Verizon center in over 8 years, Arenas brought back his signature kicks, paying homage to the floor and stadium that were once his.

The question we asked is why would Arenas's people post a different shoe on the website the day after the game? Maybe the Jordans were the shoes that were supposed to have been worn, but Gilbert either had a change of heart or felt a bit nostalgic when he got to the arena. Having all of his games and highlights, we haven’t seen him where the Gil-Zero’s since he and Adidas split. So didn’t he have to have that planned out ahead of time? Perhaps he had a secret stash left somewhere in the Verizon Center.

We may be reading to deeply into this but honestly it's refreshing to see an athlete who had as long and drawn out of a divorce as he had come back show the city and team the respect that Arenas did.

The crowd let Arenas know how they felt when he subbed in with 1:31 left in first quarter by giving him a standing ovation.

"I expected to get booed some, but I'm glad I got cheered," said Arenas. "It just shows that people understand that it was one year, one bad mistake, and it can't erase seven good years I had here."

“It’s (Washington D.C.) home. I mean this technically is the longest place I’ve ever lived,” said Arenas. “When I moved to California at ten, I moved back and forth. This is the longest place I’ve ever lived. I consider this home.”

For anyone who saw how awkward and poorly mishandled LeBron James’s return to Cleveland this year was, it’s refreshing to know that we still have sensible fans amongst all of this chaos that we Wizard fans have endured the last few seasons.

Over time, after the dust from the gun charges and crazy shenanigans that plagued the end of his tenure in Washington, will Arenas’s jersey join the likes of Earl “The Pearl, Elvin Hayes, Gus Johnson and Wes Unseld in the rafters at the Verizon Center? It’s hard to say, but for the endless hours he gave us before and after practice, for all the big shots and game winners and most importantly the excitement he brought back to the team and fan-base, we would like to say thank you Gilbert Arenas.

Visit the SNEAKERCHAMP.com website to keep track of Gil's Kicks

Follow @thesneakerchamp for updates and to vote on what shoes he should wear next.