Brendan Haywood is no household name. He played 13 years in the NBA and won a championship in 2011, but unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool hoops fan, you probably don't care.
One thing "Baby Huey" does better than anyone is tell funny stories. He knows people in and around the league and was a part of some of the most eccentric locker rooms ever.
That was especially true during his time with the Washington Wizards , where Gilbert Arenas was usually at the center of madness. Haywood has plenty of Agent Zero stories, but one of the craziest was the time Gil took the "Hibachi" nickname for himself.
In Haywood's story, the original Hibachi was actually Jamal Crawford. However, it was Haywood himself who coined the nickname.
"We're playing the New York Knicks and Jamal Crawford is killing us," Haywood said on "The Tallest Tales." "He is hitting us with every move in the book. And if you've seen Jamal Crawford play, you know he literally has every move in the book. We come to the bench, I look at DeShawn Stevenson, and I said, 'Man, that boy got y'all on the Hibachi grill tonight.' He's cooking chicken and shrimp."
"D-Steve starts laughing and we don't think nothing of it," added the 7-foot big man.
In the next practice, Haywood and Stevenson still couldn't get the "Hibachi" out of their minds. Stevenson got a rhythm going in practice, and every time he hit a shot, the duo yelled, "Hibachi!"
And in one of the four corners of the practice floor, there he was, listening and watching everything that was going on.
"Gilbert Arenas, seeing that, starts looking around; he got that look on his face like Rico of 'Belly,'" stated Haywood. "I don't like that. I don't like that at all. He actually starts doing it himself. He steals the nickname. The next game, Gil was on fire. He starts doing the Hibachi dance and proclaims he's the Hibachi after the game and everybody gave him the credit. He had endorsement deals and everything else from Hibachi Grills. And he never broke your boy off a dime."
The truth was, Arenas never endorsed any brand of Hibachi grill. Instead, Adidas planned to roll out a "Hibachi" colorway of the Gil II Zero. It was supposed to be a limited release of 1,000 pairs, but Arenas never got to lace them up on the planned date because of an injury. As a result, Adidas scrapped the entire promotional campaign.
As it turned out, Gilbert never needed to break a penny for Brendan.
Haywood didn't say when he originated the Hibachi nickname/celebration, but it was easy to figure out. D-Steve signed with the Wizards in 2006 after a stint in Orlando. That firmly puts the 2006-07 season as the likeliest setting for this nickname-grabbing chaos.
It also coincided with Arenas' best season. 2005-06 was better as far as PPG averages went, but '06-'07 established Agent Zero as one of the coldest scorers in the league. He made the All-NBA Second Team and received MVP votes.
And speaking of that Hibachi nickname, "No Chill" definitely burned teams with volcanic scoring every so often. He served up three 40-point nights in the year's first nine games and infamously beat Kobe Bryant in an absolute shootout, with Gil dropping 60 ! Barely a week later, he torched the Phoenix Suns with 54.
Haywood may have coined "Hibachi" because of Jamal Crawford, but the nickname somehow found its rightful owner in Arenas.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Oct 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
