Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton had their own challenges but they seemed to have similar journeys too. Entering the NBA draft six years apart, both didn’t get the placements nor the teams that they wanted from it. Both made their way to the Washington Wizards, part of a sports league adjacent to machismo and temptation. They got into gambling, and a gambling dispute highlighted the fact that both had personalities that were opposite. Crittenton’s seriousness clashed with Arenas’ pranksterism, which somehow involved the latter brandishing guns. The gun part of this story had consequences for both, especially for Crittenton who deals with his problems differently. Returning to the Atlanta area where he was from, he becomes the target of robberies, taking matters to his own hands.

Netflix’ Untold series of sports documentaries goes on the dark side with this, as well as dealing with certain themes. There’s a lot of B-roll here though, like beautiful shots of Washington, DC, or from a window seat from a plane. When one thinks of travel, one thinks of peace, although travelling as part of an NBA team is anything but. So this documentary species things up with some contrasts that thankfully aren’t jarring for viewers. It also accompanies its visuals, as docs normally do, with narration, mostly from Arenas but Crittenton has his narrating moments too. Arenas explains what happens while NBA teams are on tour and how they bond through gambling. Thankfully, Untold: Shooting Guards doesn’t reenact that gambling, although reenactments feel old hat.

Untold: Shooting Guards clarifies at least both men’s version of the story where the gambling turns into guns. The gambling has Arenas and Crittenton go into measuring contests involving said guns. He does so to prove to Crittenton that the latter doesn’t have the guts to shoot him, and he’s kind of right. Crittenton throws one of the guns across the room, and some members of the organization play broken telephone with that act. Those organization members inadvertently tell the media, and yes, guns anywhere are serious. Arenas’ voice within the documentary is strong, calling his past self a goofball to a media hostile to him. The documentary layers his world with media old and new-ish and how the news shows itself in both newspapers and Twitter.

Two basketball players receive the consequences for their careless actions, but one of them more than the other. Crittenton eventually leaves basketball and returns to his city and becomes the target of one too many robberies. He hunts down his target but instead of killing said target, he kills an innocent local single mother. Untold: Shooting Guards does go into conspiracy theories as to why Crittenton came out before his sentence ends. But it does have a point that some people have privileges over others, adjacent to money and power. The documentary also has its viewers waiting on how these men view their part in the woman’s death. Thankfully, it eventually gets there, and the documentary shows a semblance of maturity as they learn hard lessons.

Stream Untold: Shooting Guards on Netflix.