The Washington Post’s Mike Wise wrote a great feature for the Washington Post Magazine about Gilbert Arenas that is a must-read for any Gilbert Arenas fan. It’s a long read, but it’s definitely a good read too. Here’s just a little taste of what you’ll read there:

Sometime before he was drafted, Arenas says, he learned his then-girlfriend had been intimate with two other players already in the NBA.

“So she’s sleeping with them two; I just got drafted; I’m trying to make a basketball team; I just bought this Escalade; and I don’t have any money,” Arenas says. “I don’t have a guaranteed contract. My life is just going downhill.

“I decided right then: The only way I’m going to repay her is to become big. Cheating on her is not going to do anything. So I dedicated myself to becoming better. Half of that pain was in the gym every day.”

Arenas held off from ending the relationship until the day he made the Warriors team and signed his first contract, a two-year, no-cut deal for the league-minimum salary of $375,000. He says he had rehearsed his final conversation with his girlfriend for months. “I was playing the whole scenario out. I finally called her up: ‘I totally forgot to tell you two weeks ago that we’re not together and I’m moving to California, so buh-bye.’”

While you’re reading that, make sure to check out the accompanying photo gallery.