Gilbert Arenas opts out... willing to take less money to play in Los Angeles

[Halu Sination]

just kiddin on that second part! 

Arenas opts out of final year of deal to test free agency

WASHINGTON -- Gilbert Arenas lived up to his word and opted out of the final year of his contract, the Washington Wizards said Monday.

The move had been long expected. Arenas has repeatedly said he would forgo the final year of his six-year, $65 million deal so that he could re-sign with the team for an even larger amount.

Arenas can begin negotiating with any team on July 1. While he has expressed a desire to remain with the Wizards, he has also said he won't return unless the team also re-signs Antawn Jamison, who is also set to become a free agent.

Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld has said he wants to re-sign both Arenas and Jamison.

Arenas, a three-time All-Star, missed most of last season after two operations on his left knee. He has averaged 22.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds in his seven-season NBA career.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3434632

[Halu Sination]

its a shame (for him at least) that he wasnt able to opt-out after his monstrous 05-06 or 06-07 seasons. dude was playin at an unstoppable level, he prolly coulda signed for some major bank rolls.

he spent most of this season injured however, so it'll be interesting to see how much money he can milk out of a team.

[Styles1]

damn you... for that joke, you deserve to be to be bound to a chair in a room with no escape...... and be forced to listen to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" for 24 hours straight!! 

[Halu Sination]

damn you... for that joke, you deserve to be to be bound to a chair in a room with no escape...... and be forced to listen to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" for 24 hours straight!! 

lol dayum, it was just an innocent joke, lets not go crazy now!

but wut do u think? u think wizards are gonna throw him a fatter paycheck or just let him go? washington faired pretty well without him. im not gonna say they're BETTER without him, but they definitely dont need him at this point, especially if they can save a whole lotta money with him gone.

[S P I C E]

to bad the Pacers have no money 

[Styles1]

damn you... for that joke, you deserve to be to be bound to a chair in a room with no escape...... and be forced to listen to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" for 24 hours straight!! 

lol dayum, it was just an innocent joke, lets not go crazy now!

but wut do u think? u think wizards are gonna throw him a fatter paycheck or just let him go? washington faired pretty well without him. im not gonna say they're BETTER without him, but they definitely dont need him at this point, especially if they can save a whole lotta money with him gone.

true.... I wouldn't even wish that torture for prisoners at Gitmo.... or would I? hmmmmm....I think I'm on to something here.

Anyway.....they will probably let him walk. Not saying they should but it looks like we've got a classic case of "chicken" being played.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

It's a good thing I was too tired to get excited over the thread title.

[Halu Sination]

to bad the Pacers have no money 

if someone could convince jermaine o'neal that he has enough money and it's time for him to win, you guys could be free of 20 million dollars.

it sucks because we all know he doesnt want to be there anymore, but at the same time he knows he wouldnt even get half as much as he's making now on another team. just too much money for him to pass up on.

[Tay]

I think Washington is going to let him go, or trade him within a year if they do re-sign him. They will probably realize that they still can't get by Cleveland and need to change their style. I think they will allow Daniels to start and give more minutes to Nick Young, who showed in some limited moments (against the Lakers this year especially) that he can ball.

I hope Gilbert has a good recovery year, he is a good player and a real likeable guy on the court.

[Styles1]

^ I used to think that nothing good aside from Rod Beck could come out of Grant High School too.... but Gilbert sure proved me wrong. 

[Turf Hitta]

LOL isn't LA over the cap? Yall better hope he's willing to play for the MLE.

[Antonio_]

damn you... for that joke, you deserve to be to be bound to a chair in a room with no escape...... and be forced to listen to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" for 24 hours straight!! 

lol dayum, it was just an innocent joke, lets not go crazy now!

but wut do u think? u think wizards are gonna throw him a fatter paycheck or just let him go? washington faired pretty well without him. im not gonna say they're BETTER without him, but they definitely dont need him at this point, especially if they can save a whole lotta money with him gone.

I don't think Washington is better without Arenas. Actually no teams in the world can be better without a player like him. The fact is that Washington players wanted to play as good as possible to prove everybody they were a good team even without their most popular player. Motivations made the difference for them. 50% of this game is based on motivations anyway. But no, they ain't better without him. That said, i have no problems if they chose to sign-and-trade him, or to let him go. But they ain't good enought to beat Cleveland without him, so they better try something different in this off-season if they dont re-sign him.

[7even]

I have to disagree brother, sometimes players (or what they provide) just don't fit in. That's also a reason why the Nuggets suck. Iverson and Melo are both scorers first and foremost, put them together and you have a team that shoots lights out and still loses. Arenas is not even that good. He makes a lot of "Impossible" shots, but only because he's taking a lot of them. Most good players don't take many of them, because they can create better options for themselves. For the record, Arenas would NEVER take the MLE, and he wouldn't work too well with Kobe on the court. A team like Cleveland could really use him, though.

[Antonio_]

I have to disagree brother, sometimes players (or what they provide) just don't fit in. That's also a reason why the Nuggets suck. Iverson and Melo are both scorers first and foremost, put them together and you have a team that shoots lights out and still loses. Arenas is not even that good. He makes a lot of "Impossible" shots, but only because he's taking a lot of them. Most good players don't take many of them, because they can create better options for themselves. For the record, Arenas would NEVER take the MLE, and he wouldn't work too well with Kobe on the court. A team like Cleveland could really use him, though.

I was never been a fan of him and you'll never find a quote of myself saying he's a real superstar player, homie. The Denver and Los Angeles situations are different than the Washington one tho'. I mean Washington already have a good defensive playmaker in Antonio Daniels, a defensive specialist like DeShawn Stevenson as a guard, and Caron Butler who improved dramatically on the defensive end. It's a pretty good defensive team. So in that situation a player like Arenas can be useful. Obviously he won't fit in Denver or Los Angeles. In fact wheter you won't find quotes of me dreaming about Arenas, you'll find quotes of me asking our GM to sign Stevenson for the MLE... cause we were in need of a defensive specialist more than a scorer like Arenas (that's before we signed Ariza. I'm more than satisfacted by him). I think Arenas might help the Wizards. But like i said i understand if they want to build a different team with a different chemistry.

P.S. Cleveland is a team similiar to the Wizards. I mean it's a defensive minded team, and a player like Arenas could really help LeBron getting some pressure off him.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Damn...could you imagine:


PG Gilbert Arenas
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Lamar Odom
PF Pau Gasol
C Andrew Bynum


That's way too sick.



Even if Arenas took a pay cut, he'd still get so much more money and exposure out here in LA.