Delonte West Suspended 10 Games For Pleading Guilty To Weapons Charge

NBA Suspends Delonte West 10 Games For Pleading Guilty To Weapons Charge

It appears there will finally be closure on Delonte West's arrest for carrying three loaded guns, including a shotgun, last summer. After pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon earlier last month and avoiding jail time, West has been suspended for 10 games by the NBA, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

West is currently unsigned, and surely, this will hurt his chances of getting picked up by an NBA club next season.

Delonte West Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges

According to the Associated Press, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West will plead guilty to charges of carrying concealed weapons, and transporting loaded weapons. Though the guilty plea will undoubtedly land him in hot water with the NBA, it's also a way for West to avoid jail time in this case.

According to Cleveland's Brian Windhorst, the plea deal calls for counseling, electronic monitoring, and community service. But again, he should avoid jail time.

The suspension from the NBA is inevitable, however, because West has essentially admitted he committed a crime, which should force the league office to take some sort of action. But since nobody was harmed and West has an otherwise clean track record, the suspension shouldn't last more than a handful of games. As Windhorst speculates, three to five games sounds about right. As for whether he'll be a member of the Cavs at that point? Well, that's a whole 'nother story.

Is Delonte West The New Plaxico Burress?

OK, so the analogy isn’t exact. Plaxico accidentally fired his gun at himself; West was driving with a dangerous amount of ammo and weapons in a backpack on a motorcycle (which is still hard to believe, actually). But their outcomes could be similar: The Washington Post’s Ruben Castenada reports that Prince George County prosecutors almost always seek jail time for serious gun offenses, even for first-time offenders, which includes Mr. West:

Prince George’s prosecutors routinely seek jail time for people convicted of weapons charges, even first-time offenders. State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said West’s case will be handled no differently than any other.

That’s not exactly surprising, but it is confirmation that, if convicted, West will almost certainly be facing considerable, career-altering jail time.

Cavs' Delonte West Indicted On Six Weapons Charges

Well, this was only a matter of time: Cavs troubled guard Delonte West has been indicted on eight different charges -- six of them gun-related -- stemming from the incident that occurred outside of Washington, D.C. nearly two months ago:

West, 26, was charged with two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon, two counts of carrying a handgun, two counts of transporting a handgun, one count of reckless driving and one count of negligent driving.

According to Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, West faces up to three years in jail and $2,500 fine for each weapons charge. The trail is set for November 20.

As a refresher, here were the incredible details of how West came to be arrested:

West was driving a three-wheeled motorcycle north on Interstate 95 near Route 214 in the Largo area when he cut off a Prince George’s County police officer, authorities said. The officer pulled him over, and West told the officer that he was carrying a handgun in his waistband. That prompted the officer to call for backup, and investigators found that West was actually carrying three guns: a Beretta 9mm in his waistband, a Ruger .357 strapped to his leg and a shotgun in a guitar case slung over his back, said Maj. Andy Ellis, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County Police Department.

On top of that, we now have more details regarding the small army's worth of weapons West was carrying that night. Windhorst tweets that West had 112 shotgun shells on him and an eight-inch Bowie knife. We may never know what West was doing with that much ammo that evening, but we should probably be thankful he got pulled over.