They called each other’s bluff.
A high-flying, high-stakes card game aboard a Washington Wizards charter flight — and a $25,000 loss — triggered the locker-room gun duel between NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and his debt-collecting teammate, sources told The Post.
The beef between Arenas and the previously obscure Javaris Crittenton began as the team jetted home from Phoenix on Dec. 19 and came to a head two days later in the locker room of their home arena, the sources said.
PETER VECSEY: NBA SHOULD BAN ARENAS, POSSIBLY CRITTENTON
Arenas pulled three guns and placed them on a chair by Crittenton’s locker in an apparent bid to intimidate the third-year player, the sources said.
Arenas, 27, told his teammate to pick one of the weapons, and Crittenton, 22, shot back that he had one of his own, the insiders said.
At some point, the players had guns drawn on each other, but no shots were fired.
The stunning confrontation — first reported by The Post on Friday — has sent shock waves through the NBA, where league and team officials are awaiting local and federal investigations before dropping the hammer on the players.
Arenas didn’t deny he had a beef with Crittenton over gambling — but insisted none of the wagering was over basketball.
The big-money card play is nothing new to Arenas, who has bragged openly for years about his penchant for high-stakes Texas hold ’em poker games with teammates.
His admitted exploits include:
* Playing for tens of thousands of dollars aboard the team jet.
* Dashing off to the locker room during halftime to play online poker.
* Using the $103 per diem the Wizards give him when the team travels as buy-in money for the high-stakes matches.
* Cleaning former teammate — and current Knick — Larry Hughes out of $17,000.
* Taking $57,000 from another teammate whom Arenas declined to identify, and $5,000 off Dallas forward Drew Gooden.
* Claiming at least 10 victories in poker tournaments among teammates.
* Boasting that he spends $5,000 per month on living expenses, but his poker earnings covered all the costs during the 2006 season.
“It’s just a mental challenge, to keep my mind going,” he said in a 2006 interview.
In his latest and most widely publicized card game with a teammate, the sources said Crittenton became furious when Arenas tried to weasel out of the $25,000 debt he incurred during their airborne game.
He told the star player, “I’m not your punk!”
But after last night’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Arenas, who downplayed his poker playing, said that if he “owed someone some money, I think I’d pay it up.”
He also denied that he had a beef with his teammate, saying: “We were friends before, we’re friends now.”
The guard didn’t address the alleged gunplay, but “agreed” with the team’s owners that he should have kept the weapons out of the locker room.
“That’s bad judgment on my part to store them in here, and I take responsibility for that,” he said. “I have to deal with the police investigation . . . I have to put it in their hands and see what they say.”
But Arenas seemed to make light of the controversy as well, blabbing that he was enjoying the spotlight. “Wish it was like this every night,” he joked.
The self-described “goofball” also claimed that he has “never done anything violent,” rambling that his antics are “always funny — well funny to me.”
After the news broke, Arenas spent much of Friday denying — even mocking — the incident on his Twitter account under his nickname, “Agent Zero.”
“i wake up this morning and seen i was the new JOHN WAYNE . . . lmao media is too funny,” he wrote.
“Some people say I’m not taking it serious, but why be depressed when I can make myself laugh,” said Arenas, who has been watching episodes of the ’90s sitcom “Martin,” and comedian Mike Epps to stay upbeat.
But an unnamed Wizard player told The Washington Post the incident was especially troubling because the locker room is consider “sacred” and should be beyond gunplay.
The saga appears to be the first time Arenas’ card-playing world has collided with his fondness for firearms.
The Wizards disclosed on Christmas Day that Arenas kept unloaded guns in his locker — in violation of the league’s collective-bargaining agreement — and surrendered the weapons to team security.
However, the Wizards’ prepared statement didn’t explain how team officials first learned about the guns.
The team had wanted to keep the Arenas-Crittenton duel a secret from league officials.
Team management kept a lid on the embarrassing showdown until Jan. 1, when The Post broke the story that led to follow-up reports by Yahoo! Sports, The Washington Post and ESPN, corroborating the shocking locker-room gunplay.
Arenas reportedly told team officials he brought guns to the Verizon Center, so they’d be out of reach of his three young children at home.
Washington, DC, has some of the nation’s toughest gun laws and, until a recent Supreme Court ruling, it was illegal for private citizens there to own firearms.
Arenas’ former agent came to the defense of the three-time All-Star yesterday, saying there was “no way” he’d pull a gun.
“Ask me if some other guys I’ve represented would pull guns on teammates and I’d say yes in a second,” said Dan Fegan.
“Can you indict him for bad judgment and stupidity? Every day,” Fegan said. “Do I believe he threatened someone with a gun? No way.”
Crittenton’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, said his client would be “exonerated” once the investigation is finished.
The gun revelations could have huge, career-busting implications for Arenas — in the second year of a six-year, $111 million deal — as well as the injured Crittenton and embattled team President Ernie Grunfeld.
Arenas pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor, concealed-weapon charge and driving without a license in San Francisco in 2003.
He was suspended for the 2004-5 season opener.
The gun in that case was registered in Arizona — where Arenas was a star for the University of Arizona Wildcats — and he claimed to have forgotten to obtain a California permit.
At the very least, Arenas is in hot water with the NBA, which has a deal with the union to bar guns from any league facility.
He is set to meet with law enforcement officials tomorrow.
Ironically, it was a former teammate of Arenas who prompted the agreement.
Golden State Warriors forward Chris Mills allegedly pulled a gun on the Portland Trail Blazers’ Bonzi Wells after a heated game in 2002. Arenas and Mills were teammates at the time in Oakland.
Additional reporting by James Fanelli