Two nights after he admitted faking a left knee injury, Gilbert Arenas played just three minutes before exiting the Washington Wizards’ 96-88 preseason loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night with a strained right groin.
Arenas didn’t start but made the most of his brief return.
He didn’t attempt a shot but had three steals, a rebound, an assist and a blocked shot. Arenas teamed with John Wall on some neat passes in his first home game since being suspended for bringing guns to the locker room.
Arenas was gone by the time the locker room was open, and Saunders wasn’t terribly vocal in defending him.
Saunders fined Arenas for the fake injury Tuesday.
After the game, Saunders said he had no clue how much time Arenas might miss, nor did he any express any reaction when asked about the abrupt exit.
Arenas, who hadn’t played a home game since Jan. 2, before his 50-game suspension and felony conviction, entered with 7:05 to play in the first quarter to tepid applause from the sparse home crowd and seemed to savor playing with Wall before asking out of the game three minutes later.
Saunders decided to team Nick Young — who played well Tuesday in Arenas’ place — with Wall, the overall No. 1 draft choice. Saunders said he wasn’t penalizing Arenas.
“Nick played really good and I wanted to reward him for how he played,” Saunders said.
Drew Gooden led Milwaukee (3-1) with 25 points, while Carlos Delfino had 19.
Andray Blatche led Washington (3-2) with 17 points and Wall had 15 points and 11 assists in 38 minutes.
Information from Espn.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.