Update: 2:00 P.M. In an interview with ESPN 980 this afternoon, Wizards head coach Flip Saunders disclosed that Arenas had admitted to him that the star had lied about having a sore left knee, and that Saunders had fined Arenas an undisclosed amount.

Arenas sat out the Wizards 107-92 preseason win over the Atlanta Hawks yesterday, and admitted after the game that he had faked the injury to secure more playing time for Nick Young.

Saunders said that Arenas faced no further discipline "except having to deal with me."

Original Story: Gilbert Arenas asked out of last night's preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks, telling coach Flip Saunders that he had a sore left knee. Here's what Gilbert told The Washington Post''s Michael Lee about it:

"I told him I'd go ahead & fake an injury or say something is wrong with me so you can start."

Here's what I wrote about it last night:

[G]iven the isolated calls from the fans for [Arenas's] presence on the court Tuesday night, not to mention [his] ill-advised postgame quote, I sense a squall a-coming.

Look, I have zero problem with any player begging out of a preseason game. It's preseason, for God's sake. The biggest roar from the crowd last night came when former Wizard Etan Thomas missed two free throws and inadvertently won everyone in attendance free chicken sandwiches.

When Arenas starts pulling stuff like this in mid-January, then we can worry. But for now, Flip Saunders is playing the "strident defense" card, calling Arenas "the easiest guy I've had to coach" since he's been in Washington. The time will come when that assertion will be put to the test. Now should not be it.

After a good night's sleep, my feelings on the matter have not changed, despite the fact that the inevitable squall seems to have broken out.

My feelings on the matter can best be summed up by a DMV lad who made good some years ago. Just replace the words "practice" with "preseason."