Ex-NBA Star Facing Backlash Over 'Disgusting' South Sudan Comments

Gilbert Arenas has once again dipped his toes into hot water over some out-of-pocket comments. The 3-time NBA All-Star irked fans with his words following Team USA's close loss against South Sudan.

Team USA survived a 101-100 scare against South Sudan on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. The African squad led the Americans by as many as 16 points in what would have been a historic upset.

Arenas voiced his opinion on the match. He branded the South Sudan team as members of an indigenous tribe. Arenas added that Team USA's Joel Embiid, who hails from Cameroon, intentionally tried to lose the game.

The 42-year-old also claimed that the South Sudan players "don't even have shoes" and merely get sent footwear from the United States.

"We've got the males (Team USA) almost lost to some Africans. ... We almost lost to the Ahi-Ahi tribe. This is crazy," Arenas said.

"... Man, Embiid over there g--d--- throwing the game. He throwing the game for his cousins and s--t ... They don't even have shoes. They get their shoes from America. We've got to ship them shoes."

It's safe to say fans were not happy with the former All-NBA player's comments.

"Gilbert arenas is genuinely a disgusting xenophobic person."

"This is flat out racism and xenophobia. It’s time to start calling comments like this from Gilbert Arenas and others exactly what it is. The game is for EVERYONE, and watching South Sudan’s performance should warrant nothing but admiration. They literally got it out the mud."

"there are conservative talking heads who put serious man hours into being as racist as possible that don’t sniff gilbert arenas at 10 am on a monday"

Arenas is no stranger to rubbing people the wrong way with his words. With his NBA career in the rearview mirror, the former Washington Wizards guard has seemingly kept his name in the spotlight with his polarizing comments.

Agent Zero once deleted his Instagram after receiving some backlash over seemingly inappropriate comments. But at this point in his post-NBA career, Arenas has probably gotten comfortable in dealing with all the criticism.

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