It's All About the Money

If you ask me, he could pass for Goofy.

With much speculation revolving around Gilbert Arenas' future as he announced that he has decided to opt out of his contract following the 2008 season; Gilbert has finally shone some light to pacify some fears in the hearts of Wizards-fans and Zero-fans of the like, announcing that he wasn't going anywhere and opting out is just a business decision. He plans to opt out of his contract and hope to catch an extension with the Wizards with the most Benjamins as possible. Here's Gilbert to bury the majority of the population in his financial plan:

"When I signed my original deal, I believed that I would become a max player so I had a player’s option. So, I make 11 and 12 million the next two years and then the extension would put me at 12.5, 13, 14 in the three years of the extension. The part that I got frustrated about the extension was that I have to play next year at that figure no matter what and then if I extend, all I’m getting is four years guaranteed. But, if I opt out after next year, I’ll have six years guaranteed because I’ll sign a whole new six year contract.

So at the end of the day, it will be a six-year deal instead of a four-year deal and instead of starting at 12.5 or 13 million, I’ll be starting at 14 or 15 million and I’ll be a max player."

Brain-bended? It's not that hard to understand, once you read it six times over. All Gilbert is saying is that he is only opting out of his contract to extend his contract and to earn more money. It's all about the money as everyone can see. Gilbert even rewarded us with a picture of what he used to look like. Really Gilbert, did you have to do that? He looks like D.L. Hughley, with proportional hair size. This is a good time to say that everyone agrees that bald is beautiful, at least for Gilbert Arenas. Moving on, Gilbert even used Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace as examples. The words "I'll test free agency to see what's best for me", have been thrown around a lot; and it is appreciated big time that Gilbert Arenas would come out and clear everything out bluntly and straightforward without throwing the same overused sugarcoats towards the Wizards-fans.

What does this hold for Gilbert Arenas in the future?

If Gilbert's plan is successful, and he gets the contract extension and raise he desires, I can not see a single positive outcome hovering around this situation. Other than the fact of locking Gilbert Arenas in the roster for the next six or seven years, the Wizards will have to give up precious salary cap to give in to the wishes of Gilbert Arenas. Come on Gilbert, you're already making an estimated $12 million a year. Wanting more isn't really bad though; it's just that this presumed extension won't actually benefit anyone other than Gilbert Arenas himself. The Washington Wizards will lose a few million dollars of cap space; dollars which might allow them to sign a valuable marquee player in the future. Arenas has stated however, that he wants to make sure that the Wizards get everybody they needed, sign free agents and draft whoever, before he chains himself into their payroll. That's very thoughtful of you Gilbert. A reasonable compromise would be if Gilbert would get his raise; yet, still leaving quite an adequately sized vacancy in the cap space for future purposes. In other words, get him his raise but not as high as he wishes.

What would happen if Gilbert Arenas gets rejected as the Wizards front-office love their Benjamins too much? He'll be following the foot-steps of Ben Wallace and signing his max-deal with a different city; and we'll be seeing Gilbert Arenas sporting new colors by the year 2009. My support goes out to the offensively-challenged Orlando Magic, if ever the situation comes about. Other than that, it's quite an impossibility. The world loves Gilbert Arenas, and the Washington Wizards love Gilbert Arenas even more. They'd shed the blood of each and every other Wizard on the roster before giving up Agent Zero. So in conclusion, it's a sure-fire business strategy by Gilbert Arenas for a few more million dollars in his contract.

Either way, I still commit myself to Agent Zero discipleship. Get ready for 'the Sequel' coming up next season.