Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee Reportedly Involved in Altercation

The presumed frontcourt of the future in Washington -- JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche -- appear to have run into an issue off the court.

The pair reportedly had an altercation at a Washington club early Friday morning. Multiple league sources confirmed to Michael Lee of The Washington Post that a run-in occurred involving McGee and Blatche.

Lee provides the details:

Witnesses have said that the players were screaming expletives at each other, but two league sources added that Blatche and McGee also exchanged several punches at the Shadow Room in Northwest Washington.

A Wizards spokesman released a statement late Friday that read, "The team looked into the matter earlier today and determined it was simply a disagreement between teammates."

Nobody was hurt and no arrests were made. But it would have been nice for the Wizards to avoid a story like this less than a week after shipping their embattled former franchise player Gilbert Arenas out of town to Orlando. The Wizards saved money in that deal, but they also rid themselves of the baggage Arenas lugged along following the locker room gun incident from last December.

During his press conference to address the Arenas trade, Ernie Grunfeld said, "We're rebuilding around our young players and through the draft, but to be able to do that, you also need some veteran leadership." It seems Arenas wasn't viewed as one of those types of vets. Though Grunfeld said the team could have moved forward with Arenas on the roster, his actions say the organization felt it was best to proceed without him. As the Wizards try to move away from their dysfunctional recent history, an incident like this does not help.

Finally, it's worth noting that Blatche denied any conflict in two text messages exchanged with Lee. He said he and McGee got physical while attempting to to avoid the action going on around them. Via Lee: "Only one push cause [sic] we was tryin [sic] to leave and it was fights around us. Why would we fight we are team mates [sic]."