There are nude photos circulating on the Internet that purport to be taken by Greg Oden and feature the Portland Trailblazers’ injured star in all his manly glory.

When the photos first made their way into the media, Oden’s management company promised legal action against any sites that displayed the pictures. That made me think there was a pretty good chance they were real.

Since then, Oden has stepped up to the mic and apologized admitting the photos are of him and taken 1 1/2 years ago with his cell phone and sent to a former girlfriend. 

“I would like to apologize to everybody: Portland, the fans, the organization,” said Oden. “It was very embarrassing.”

It appears to be another big week in NBA-land and we’re only a few days in. On Monday, Washington Wizards guard Javaris Crittenton accepted a plea bargain in the gun case that surrounded the team and its star Gilbert Arenas.

Crittendon agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of a firearm unlike Arenas who was tagged with a felony count and probable incarceration.

The case got interesting when it was revealed by Mike Wise of the Washington Post that Crittenton pulled out his own weapon in the team’s locker room in response to Arenas displaying four hand guns.

Wise reported that multiple sources told him Crittenton loaded the gun while engaging in banter with Arenas. But the prosecution’s court filing said they couldn’t confirm those facts. Thus, a judge agreed with the prosecution’s recommendation of one year unsupervised probation, a small fine and community service, specifically mentoring children in the District of Columbia.

The significant difference between the two situations that might have led authorities to recommend probation after a plea to one misdemeanor count rather than the harsher penalty for Arenas is Crittenton’s absence of prior gun offenses.

As was reported at the time of Arenas’ court appearance, he already had one strike against him on that front after a 2003 misdemeanor plea to gun possession in California. Crittenton might want to take note that the second time around, should there be one, will come with more than probation .

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.