Gilbert Arenas Re-Signs with Wizards, 6 years $111M

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Arenas Agrees to Take Around $16 Million Less

One quote from Gilbert Arenas says it all: "What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million?"

Arenas told me a little while ago that he has agreed to a six-year, $111 million contract. The Wiz had offered the maximum level contract, one that would have paid him between $125 to $127 million over six years. Arenas said he is willing to take less in order to help the Wizards have room to add key pieces over the next few seasons. The deal still has to be finalized once the league releases salary cap and luxury tax numbers next week but Arenas said his mind is made up.

"We have another room to add a piece," Arenas said. "There is a window of opportunity open for us. Adding key pieces leads to championships and that's what we all want."

More later.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2008/07/arenas_agrees_to_take_around_1.html

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Golden State more than likely gonna take a closer look at Maggette now.

[John_C]

Is there anybody else in the draft that GS may possibly look onto aside from CM?

[DPG21920]

Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala

[jag]

"What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million?"


How profound...

[John_C]

Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala


Hmm those two are restricted agents and most likely Philly and the Hawks will match offers for them.

Suddenly, CM looks to be so much far away now :bang

[DPG21920]

Golden State has the most cap room out of anyone of the new "big 3 cap players" so they could definitely over pay one of those two and get him.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Hmm those two are restricted agents and most likely Philly and the Hawks will match offers for them.

Suddenly, CM looks to be so much far away now :bang

Childress, Okafor, Posey, Deng, Gordon, Krstic...

[Spurtacus]

Overpaid.

[Gino]

Overpaid.

Thats what I was thinking,

[nil.ball]

overpaid?

Did you contribute to that by being a fan?

i think it's your fault...

[Anti.Hero]

Gilbert who?

[Anti.Hero]

Wow, Gilbert is one funny ass first name.

[duncan228]

The best thing I ever saw Arenas in was he and Duncan interviewing each other for adidas. :)

Part One:

ML1XK7X_O2E

Part Two:

AEFfiuuRwzM

[montgod]

Arenas Agrees to Take Around $16 Million Less

One quote from Gilbert Arenas says it all: "What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million?"

Arenas told me a little while ago that he has agreed to a six-year, $111 million contract. The Wiz had offered the maximum level contract, one that would have paid him between $125 to $127 million over six years. Arenas said he is willing to take less in order to help the Wizards have room to add key pieces over the next few seasons. The deal still has to be finalized once the league releases salary cap and luxury tax numbers next week but Arenas said his mind is made up.

"We have another room to add a piece," Arenas said. "There is a window of opportunity open for us. Adding key pieces leads to championships and that's what we all want."

More later.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2008/07/arenas_agrees_to_take_around_1.html

Well... you can take R. Mason off the list, because the Wiz definitely want him back and this gives them the room most likely to sign him to the money he wants. Besides, Mason likes being on the Wizards, so it shouldn't be difficult.

Market is starting to take shape...

[montgod]

Just curious... I wonder how they came up with the figure of $111 million? I wouldn't put it being one of Arenas corny ideas... to mean he is a "1" x 3 instead of just a "0".

[angelbelow]

WOW! he took a paycut too! can any one really say hes selfish now?

[Kindergarten Cop]

Just curious... I wonder how they came up with the figure of $111 million? I wouldn't put it being one of Arenas corny ideas... to mean he is a "1" x 3 instead of just a "0".

Just imagine if we learned that the contract was 6yr/$111,111,111.11

Then he would be a "1" x 11. :lol

[Marcus Bryant]

Just curious... I wonder how they came up with the figure of $111 million? I wouldn't put it being one of Arenas corny ideas... to mean he is a "1" x 3 instead of just a "0".

A six year, $111 million contract for Arenas from the Wizards would start at $14,653,460 for the 2008-09 season, assuming max annual raises of 10.5% of his that first year salary.

[Marcus Bryant]

Well... you can take R. Mason off the list, because the Wiz definitely want him back and this gives them the room most likely to sign him to the money he wants. Besides, Mason likes being on the Wizards, so it shouldn't be difficult.

Market is starting to take shape...

Jamison took a 4 year, $50 mil extension, which would mean a starting salary of $10,799,135 for 2008-09.

Adding the new salaries of Arenas and Jamison plus the first year rookie scale salary of #18 pick JaVale McGee of $1,160,200 (assuming he signed for 100% of the scale) to this estimate (http://hoopshype.com/salaries/washington.htm) of the Wizards' 2008-09 payroll of $41,199,400 without them arrives at a total team payroll of $67,812,195.

The luxury tax threshold for the 2007-08 season was $67.865 mil (http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#16).

Perhaps they will be able to re-sign Mason and fill out the rest of their roster without exceeding the luxury tax threshold for 2008-09.

[timvp]

Sometimes it can be frustrating watching the Spurs front office operate, but moves like this put it in perspective. Trading away Scola for nothing really doesn't compare to this franchise suicide signing the Wizards are prepared to follow through with.

First of all, Arenas is coming off of two knee surgeries, one of which including microfracture surgery, and there's no guarantee he'll ever get back to 100%. But even at 100%, he's easily one of the most overrated players in the NBA. The Wizards are as good or better off without him. Give Arenas' touches to Caron Butler, use this $111M to surround Butler and Antawn Jamison with talent and the Wizards could have a chance. Arenas is the one-man stat whore who will never be a main player on a championship team.

Arenas is a pretty good writer but as a basketball player, he's hugely overvalued. A low percentage gunner who doesn't play defense or make teammates better? I just don't get how a team can kill itself by giving him this deal. They even got to see how Arenas being out made no difference last season. That was like the basketball gods giving the Wizards a free helping hand ... and they still are going to mess it up.

Amazing.

[Thompson]

What would he do for his family with $127 million that he wouldn't be able to do with $80 million (not to mention endorsements)?

[Kindergarten Cop]

I just don't get how a team can kill itself by giving him this deal. They even got to see how Arenas being out made no difference last season. That was like the basketball gods giving the Wizards a free helping hand ... and they still are going to mess it up.

Amazing.

Would you use this same example with the Lakers and Andrew Bynum? I know that this isn't an "apples to apples" comparison, but the Lakers were able to get all the way to the Finals without him and now there is talk about him demanding a max contract coming off of knee surgery.

[Marcus Bryant]

Sometimes it can be frustrating watching the Spurs front office operate, but moves like this put it in perspective. Trading away Scola for nothing really doesn't compare to this franchise suicide signing the Wizards are prepared to follow through with.

First of all, Arenas is coming off of two knee surgeries, one of which including microfracture surgery, and there's no guarantee he'll ever get back to 100%. But even at 100%, he's easily one of the most overrated players in the NBA. The Wizards are as good or better off without him. Give Arenas' touches to Caron Butler, use this $111M to surround Butler and Antawn Jamison with talent and the Wizards could have a chance. Arenas is the one-man stat whore who will never be a main player on a championship team.

Arenas is a pretty good writer but as a basketball player, he's hugely overvalued. A low percentage gunner who doesn't play defense or make teammates better? I just don't get how a team can kill itself by giving him this deal. They even got to see how Arenas being out made no difference last season. That was like the basketball gods giving the Wizards a free helping hand ... and they still are going to mess it up.

Amazing.

Right. They could have let him walk to the Warriors and then taken stock of the free agent landscape. Maybe they make a run at some of the RFAs available in this scenario. This looks like a team making sure the 'face of the franchise' isn't lost even though he isn't a true franchise player.

[ShoogarBear]

Part of it is PR. Arenas is popular because he's a character, and the Wiz were bad for so long that they're still just happy with making the playoffs around here, and they can't see that Arenas will never take a team to a championship as a #1 option.

Ernie Grunfeld couldn't just have let Arenas walk, no matter how much basketball sense it would have made; that would have been professional suicide. But the smartest thing for him to do would have been some kind of S&T where the Wiz could have gotten some real quality back instead of another season of empty stats. Unfortunately, there isn't really a market for those kinds of deals this year.

A few people did note how much better the Wiz played both on defense AND offense when Arenas went out. And if the Wiz get off to a bad start with a healthy Hibachi this year, the light may finally come on. Of course, by then it will be too late.

[TheMadHatter]

Would you use this same example with the Lakers and Andrew Bynum? I know that this isn't an "apples to apples" comparison, but the Lakers were able to get all the way to the Finals without him and now there is talk about him demanding a max contract coming off of knee surgery.

:lmao. Yea man, ship his ass out!

[rj215]

"What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million?


What a hero. :rolleyes In 3 years the stupid Wizards will be trying to get rid of this overpaid clown. They'll never get past the Celts, Cavs or Pistons because they don't give a shit about defense, especially Arenas. But I guess all they care about is ticket sales in D.C.

[benefactor]

Congratulations Wizards...you just paid 111mil to continue in mediocrity. Have fun. :toast

[Kindergarten Cop]

:lmao. Yea man, ship his ass out!

Where in my post did I say that (even though I believe those were the exact words of Kobe Bryant a little more than a year ago :lol )? I was referring to the fact that the Lakers are going to have to overpay to keep him and it appears that he is not the difference-maker for the Lakers, a luxury if you will. That's going to hurt the Lakers, having two max players on the payroll - one of them still unproven and coming off of knee surgery.

[hater]

Sometimes it can be frustrating watching the Spurs front office operate, but moves like this put it in perspective. Trading away Scola for nothing really doesn't compare to this franchise suicide signing the Wizards are prepared to follow through with.

First of all, Arenas is coming off of two knee surgeries, one of which including microfracture surgery, and there's no guarantee he'll ever get back to 100%. But even at 100%, he's easily one of the most overrated players in the NBA. The Wizards are as good or better off without him. Give Arenas' touches to Caron Butler, use this $111M to surround Butler and Antawn Jamison with talent and the Wizards could have a chance. Arenas is the one-man stat whore who will never be a main player on a championship team.

Arenas is a pretty good writer but as a basketball player, he's hugely overvalued. A low percentage gunner who doesn't play defense or make teammates better? I just don't get how a team can kill itself by giving him this deal. They even got to see how Arenas being out made no difference last season. That was like the basketball gods giving the Wizards a free helping hand ... and they still are going to mess it up.

Amazing.

it's very simple. Arenas sells tickets.

as overrated and overpaid you say he is(I agree) he has not lost anything in popularity. He is easily top 5 most popular and marketable players in the NBA. Wiz want to keep that.

[ambchang]

Wiz stuck in mediocrity purgatory for 6 years. Good job.

[bobbybob0]

Bear in mind that he's his own agent which means he doesn't have to give 6-10% of his annual salary to s/o else.

In addition his "discount" allows Whasington signing both the MLE and LLE without hitting the luxury tax.