It’s been an adventurous year for Gilbert Arenas. Last season he became everyone’s favorite blogger who played some basketball on the side, scoring 60 points in a game, hitting buzzer beaters, becoming the people’s champ. Then there was this interview where he put his value to a team above the likes of Kobe and LeBron. He had his usual share of hilarity on his blog, talking about everything from shaving “down there” to cheating at Halo on Xbox Live, to the time he considered ending it all because he wasn’t medically cleared to play ball.
Oh, and there was the time that he missed a huge chunk of the season due to injury and his team played better without him. Anyways, Gilbert had leverage like a man standing on top of a cliff with a boulder at the end of a plank, but he gave some of that up this season. Still, he will test the market, they all do. He leaves open the door for his return by saying he’ll take a paycut if that means it will help Washington will keep Antawn Jamison. But that’s a lot of investing for a team that may want to move on in a new direction.
What will another team pay for an explosive scorer who is the king of all enigmas, the rare combination of someone who can be down to earth and not take what they do too seriously, and also someone who overvalues their importance and performance? He definitely makes your team more entertaining and watchable. But who can afford him, especially coming off the injury? Any thoughts? Suggested destinations? Sign-and-trades?
The good news for Gilbert is that all it takes is one GM to throw the big money at him.
