Orlando and Washington are engaged in serious discussions for a trade that would send Gilbert Arenas to the Magic, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Still unclear was whether Orlando would send the expiring contract of Vince Carter as part of the package or build a trade around longer-term contracts, including that of backup center Marcin Gortat, sources said. The Wizards also have been angling to get a first-round pick in return, sources said.
The Magic are currently sitting at 16-9 and in fourth place in the much improved Eastern Conference. They see the writing on the wall, which is why they are willing to roll the dice on Gilbert Arenas in order to improve their talent base and give the team a better shot in the playoffs.
Still, it’s funny how quickly things can change. Just a few short months ago, after Arenas was suspended for bringing a loaded gun to the Wizards’ locker room, the team couldn’t give him away. Now there trying to wrest a first round pick out of the Magic in return. Amazing.
For his part, Arenas is posting decent numbers (17-3-6) this season, but isn’t shooting the ball particularly well (39% from the field, 32% from 3PT). I don’t see how he’d work with Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter in the backcourt, so I suspect that Carter would be the one to go. That means that Arenas would have to play a lot of off guard because Nelson is a better point guard right now, in my opinion.
If the Wizards can get out from under Arenas’s contract and get a first round pick and/or a starter-quality center like Marcin Gortat, it will be a coup. John Wall is the future in Washington and Arenas is superfluous. I don’t think Arenas is a good move for the Magic, but they need to do something, and there’s no doubt now that Vince Carter experiment was a failure.
Jon Kitna has played pretty well since taking over for Tony Romo, and this week he has a nice matchup with the Redskins, who have struggled mightily against the pass this season…Josh Freeman should continue to put up solid fantasy lines the rest of the way. This week he has the Lions, who did play well against Aaron Rodgers for a half last week. Still, this is a secondary that has given up 20+ to Jon Kitna, Donovan McNabb and Mark Sanchez in the last eight weeks, so Freeman should finish with good stats…Jason Campbell is probably available on your waiver wire (or was earlier in the week) and has a terrific matchup with a reeling Broncos defense that has given up 1.8 pass TDs per game this season.
