Legendary NBA star Isiah Thomas responded to Gilbert Arenas' recent comments on X that a player who scores 0 points but gives out 20 assists is being held back. Thomas noted that basketball is a team sport and that this mentality could cost a player a position on an NBA team, but he did emphasize his respect for Arenas.

Thomas wasn't the only one to disagree with Arenas' comments, but he was the most notable one. Arenas was primarily known as a scorer during his time in the league and clearly places a high value on scoring, but it's obviously not the only way to positively impact the game.

For a traditional point guard like Thomas, who is considered by many to be one of the greatest players at the position, dishing out assists to his teammates and dictating the tempo and level of play for his team is something he takes pride in. Therefore, his disagreement with Arenas on this issue is not surprising.

Arenas' statement that a player who scores 0 points but gives out 20 assists is a poor performance is false. Assists are a vital statistic in basketball and any player who gives out that many assists is positively impacting the game.

Arenas made bold statements. Arenas has allowed the NBA to continue to emphasize scoring, and most of the popular stars in the league are high-profile scorers. However, the popularity of score-first players does not negate the high value and influence of playmakers and players who perform other tasks.

Gilbert Arenas continues to create controversy

This is far from the first time that Gilbert Arenas has been criticized for remarks he made on his show. Recently, Arenas talked about players of Michael Jordan's generation, claiming that he was the only great player at the position and that he did not face any elite shooting guards during his career.

Many people thought this was disrespectful to Jordan, but in fact he just wanted to praise Jordan for being so far ahead of his contemporaries. But Arenas is a bit of a hater in the sports media field, so he has to bear the brunt of the backlash.

On top of that, Arenas really crossed the line during the 2024 Paris Olympics when he used racial slurs in his comments about the South Sudanese basketball team. He received a lot of criticism for these remarks, and multiple people, including NBA superstar Joel Embiid, opposed his remarks.

Arenas has found a lot of success as a media personality in his post-playing career. Much of that is based on the shock value of the things he and his co-hosts say on his show. However, while shock value may help his ratings, he shouldn't rely on that crutch in a way that could be considered insensitive or inflammatory to anger his fan base.