Hibachi to go?

Wizards superstar Gilbert Arenas is planning to opt out of his contract at the end of this coming season, which you may have read if you made it to page E4 of the Washington Post sports section. Although I did find it surprising that the Post didn't consider this a major story, (it remains on the front page on ESPN.com) neither myself nor Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld found the story surprising. He stands to make more money in a cinch max contract than on his current deal, which of course is less than the max.

The Wizards can offer more money per year of a longer period of time than any other team, so the Wizards would have to be considered the favorite to sign him next year. His first time a free agent he decided between similar contracts offered by the Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers; his former team, the Warriors, couldn't come close to matching the eight figure yearly salaries offered by the other two suitors. The legend goes Arenas flipped a coin ten times to decide which team to sign with, it came up seven times on the Clippers side, so he signed with the Wizards just to go the other way. So although this indicates Arenas likes to go against the grain, it's not like he ignored financial considerations.

One approach that many teams seem to take is vastly overpaying for a free agent. Cleveland's signing of Larry Hughes to a 5 year, $70 million deal seemed to have more to do with showing Lebron that they're committed to winning that Hughes' worth. Grunfeld has shown discretion when it comes to deals above the exception, but the Wizards' moves this offseason should be scrutinized a little more, because they will be by Arenas.