In an impromptu conversation with reporters on Monday – his first post-practice interview since the regular season began – Arenas responded to a question about teammates trusting one another by saying: “Most of us feel we’re confident in each other on the floor and there are a few that don’t. I have no idea. But for the most part, we all get along. There are, what, 15 players on the team? Fourteen do.”

Arenas didn’t name anyone, but moments later, he was asked who would take responsibility for healing the fissures within the team. “Me and Antawn” Jamison, Arenas said. “That’s our jobs. But at the end of the day, if 15 players don’t want to go and it’s only 14, you’ve seen ‘Remember the Titans.’ It’s the same thing, we’ve just got to play.”

The Wizards have three captains: Arenas, Jamison and Butler. When Arenas was asked if Butler was also part of the equation to alleviate some of the problems with the team chemistry, he smiled, leaned in and asked, “Come again?”

Again, he was asked if Butler was also a part of that? “Yeah,” he said, coyly.

Butler didn’t speak with reporters after practice. But contacted by phone afterward, he said he was surprised to hear those comments from Arenas.

“I really don’t have a problem with anybody on the team. When we’re together behind closed doors, we’re all laughing and joking,” Butler said. “I try to be professional on and off court and do the right thing. And the right thing is to continue to chip away at it, play hard and continue to try to get better. That’s all you can do right now. We’re all struggling. We’re losing together. It’s not Caron lost tonight; or Antawn lost this night; or Gilbert lost this night. It’s the Washington Wizards. Collectively, we got to find a way to win games.”