Jul 3, 2008 - 11:05 PM
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The deal, which will keep the eccentric combo guard in the nation's capitol until 2014, cannot become official until a league moratorium concludes July 9.
Arenas opted out of the final year of his contract earlier this offseason and was offered a six-year, $127 million deal Tuesday - the first day of free agency. According to the Times, Arenas took less money because he did not want to be a burden on the team's salary cap.
"(The Wizards) offered me the max, and I'm basically giving back $16 million," Arenas told the newspaper. "This is in line with what I've been saying the whole time. You see players take max deals and they financially bind their teams. I don't wanna be one of those players and three years down the road your team is strapped and can't do anything about it."
The 26-year-old, Arenas was limited to just 13 games this past season after undergoing knee surgery. He opted out of a deal that was set to pay him $12.8 million next season.
When healthy, the 6-4 guard is one of the game's best players, posting career averages of 22.8 points and 5.5 assists in 431 games.
The Wizards re-signed All-Star forward Antawn Jamison to a four-year, $50 million deal on Monday. That was key for Arenas, who said he would take less money if Jamison were re-signed. As a result, the Wizards went over the salary cap with that signing and Arenas did his best to help out.
"It's a relief," Arenas told the Times. "It was a burden at the same time. Your whole city is depending on you, wondering if you're going to make the right decision. I'm a franchise player and sometimes franchise players need to make franchise decisions."
