NBA star Gilbert Arenas isn’t known for keeping his opinion to himself, but he may have pushed it too far this time. The Washington Wizards guard, who is currently being investigated by the Washington D.C. police for keeping a handgun in his locker, has been suspended indefinitely from the NBA in part because of his reaction to the investigation on the popular social networking website, Twitter.

According to ABC News, an NBA source said that “Arenas’ prolific tweeting about the incident, his statements to the media and a photo of the point guard waving his index fingers like pistols before a game in Philadelphia Tuesday night” contributed to the decision to suspend the three-time all-star.

So, what was it that Arenas tweeted? Here are a few choice selections:

From January 1st (after the story first broke) – “i wake up this morning and seen i was the new JOHN WAYNE..lmao media is too funny”

From January 2nd (in response to Twitter users telling him maybe he shouldn’t be tweeting about the incident -”im confused about sum of the responds…people r twitting sayin i shouldnt be twitting right now and making jokes…do to whats going on”

From January 3rd – (criticizing Peter Vecsey, the writer who wrote that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other) – “NY post should eject Peter V FROM WRITNG EVERY AGAIN..how do u and ur partner tell 3 stories and all 3 r not true.the blind leadin the blind”

Throughout his professional career, Arenas is widely known for his occasionally irreverant but always accessible personality. One of the first NBA stars to have an unfiltered blog, Arenas has been connecting directly with his fans and responding to journalists on his own for several years now. Unfortunately, when you take your publicity into your own hands, you have to be very considerate about what you’re sharing online.

As more and more celebrities and athletes have drifted away from the traditional public relations model in favor of direct communications tools like Twitter and Facebook, they’ve found themselves struggling to deal with the scrutiny that comes with it. Without publicists there to stop them from tweeting whatever pops into their mind, the odds of them saying something they’ll regret rises exponentially. It’s no wonder that more celebrities haven’t joined Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, and the others who have already abandoned Twitter.

In the case of Gilbert Arenas, these tweets could be more than just an annoyance. As Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post writes,

“It’s difficult to imagine any more laughter coming from Gilbert Arenas on this matter of having guns in the locker room. It’s safe to assume there will be no more pulling a fake trigger for the cameras, no more Twittering, no more seeing this gun episode as another prank. Even Arenas knows the laughter stops when NBA Commissioner David Stern says you are suspended indefinitely. Wednesday, funny turned into career threatening.”

When your social networking habits are threatening your job, you have to consider rethinking how you use the Internet. Being careful about what you put on the web is a critical part of maintaining a strong and effective online reputation. In this case, Gilbert Arenas would have been smart to lay off the tweeting. At 28, he’s still one of the NBA’s best guards and it would be a shame if his career were irreparably damaged because of his foolish behavior on Twitter.