David Stern's recommendation that Gilbert Arenas and Ted Leonsis should not talk about the felony gun charge that forced Gil to miss most of last season is just that, a recommendation. Joseph White of the Associated Press is reporting that Stern's comments were just "strong advice," and that Arenas and Leonsis would not be punished if they chose not to listen.
One note on Gilbert Arenas sty: Both NBA and Wizards say it's not a gag order _ there's no threat of a fine.
He clarifies:
In other words, Arenas & Leonsis could talk about the gun stuff if they wanted to, but commissioner is advising against it.
White continues also notes what I believe is the reason why Stern might have made this suggestion to Arenas and Leonsis.
What this does is give Arenas a way to skirt the questions. He can say: "Stern told me I didn't have to talk about that stuff."
I'm pretty sure that even before Stern made this proclamation, Gilbert Arenas and Ted Leonsis knew that they shouldn't talk about this gun incident. Leonsis' blog post yesterday leads me to believe that he has hammered that point home to Arenas and the rest of his franchise a million times this offseason.
But to have Stern come out publicly and say that Arenas and Leonsis shouldn't talk about the incident means that Arenas has a perfectly good reason to refuse comment without appearing standoffish. It also shows the media who might want to ask Arenas those types of questions that they will not be receiving any answers, so they might as well not even ask.
I think Gilbert wasn't going to be answering questions about it anyway, but Stern's "advice" likely ensures that there will be fewer asked.