Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas built a reputation throughout his 11-year career for being one of the most eccentric spenders in professional sports. However, during a recent episode of the We Said What We Said podcast hosted alongside Nick Young and Melli Monaco, Arenas admitted that even his most lavish real estate choices fell short after he witnessed the eye-popping scale of former NBA forward Charlie Villanueva’s home.
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“You ever see Charlie Villanueva’s house?” Arenas asked his wife and friend. “That’s some balling s— around here, man.”
Young, a long-time NBA veteran himself, immediately echoed the sentiment, noting how unheard of Villanueva’s extravagant setup was, “That’s some balling s—. I ain’t never heard of that, elevator in the closet?”
Arenas confirmed that Villanueva indeed had an elevator in his closet among other things. That seemed to be No Chill Gil’s biggest trigger. Reflecting on the sheer extravagance of some player residences compared to his own architectural choices, Arenas confessed that seeing Villanueva’s layout made him reconsider his entire real estate portfolio.
“I can tell you like this, there’s some NBA houses I see, it was like, man, I spent my money wrong,” Arenas admitted, pointing specifically to the unbelievable layout of Villanueva’s Texas residence. “This n—a got a full court outside the bed. Goddamn, this n—a s— fly.”
“That’s Texas too though,” Young pointed out.
While Arenas marveled at the setup, he could not resist poking fun at Villanueva’s court placement relative to his on-court performance.
“I know that too, but there’s some houses like ‘This n—a got a full court outside the bed’… then my hater came in,” Arenas quipped. “But he ain’t even need that because he would have had a better jumper, like he go from the bed to the court.”
Arenas’ playful self-deprecation carries a rich history given his own legendary splurges and real estate history. He claimed that he had to sleep in the old Warriors training facility because he spent his entire rookie paycheck on an Escalade that had five TVs in it that he had no gas money to drive it between his home and the arena.
Following a massive six-year, $111 million contract extension with the Washington Wizards in the summer of 2008, Arenas embarked on constructing a custom Great Falls, Virginia, mansion that quickly entered sports media folklore. The sprawling estate included a custom grotto, a water slide, seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and an infamous live shark tank that reportedly required over $5,000 per month in maintenance fees alone.
After his NBA career wound down in 2012 with trades and injuries, Arenas put the Virginia home up for sale for $3.5 million.
He subsequently relocated to California, purchasing a 5,850-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa nestled in the hills of Encino for $3.1 million in 2007, which featured panoramic views stretching from Burbank to Calabasas, a six-burner Viking stove, five fireplaces, and a resort-style cliffside pool. Arenas later relisted the Encino property in 2022, seeking $3.8 million as he transitioned full-time into digital sports media and podcasting with Gil’s Arena and more shows.
Meanwhile, Villanueva, who accumulated an estimated net worth of approximately $30 million over an 11-season career with the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, and Dallas Mavericks, has made his own headlines in luxury real estate.
Beyond his sprawling Texas setup highlighted by Arenas, Villanueva famously listed a tricked out Davie, Florida, residence for $3.25 million in 2017. That home boasted an outdoor kitchen, pool with water slides, a private movie theater, a billiards room, an elevator, and custom sneaker display closets.
Though Arenas generated millions in career earnings, he’ll never hold back on the realities of an NBA contract on his podcasts, whether that’s breaking down the worst clauses or how they can induce jealousy over floor plans and backyard full-courts never truly fades.