Tag: Gilbert Arenas contract

Report: Wizards haven’t decided to void Arenas’s contract

January 19, 2010 /

Mike Jones (former Wizards beat writer for the “now defunct Washington Times sports department”) reports that the team hasn’t decided what to do with regard to Gilbert Arenas.

It was believed that the Wizards would exercise their right to void the remaining four years and $80 million left on Arenas’ deal because of the felony conviction. This belief was further fueled by multiple media outlets outlining the Wizards’ options, and seemed to be further backed up by the TMZ report that Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld told Arenas he had the right to void the deal in a text message.

But according to a source speaking on the condition of anonymity, the Wizards have not had any discussions or communications with Arenas in regards to voiding the deal, and haven’t decided what their course of action is in the situation because the legal process must play out, and then David Stern, who already has suspended Arenas indefinitely, must decide what – if any – additional punishment the player will receive before being reinstated into the league.

If Arenas is able to avoid jail time, and is re-instate to the league by Stern, the Wizards are hopeful that they can mend what Arenas’ perceives as broken fences, and move forward with him as their franchise point guard.

“The Wizards did give him that $111 million contract when everyone thought they shouldn’t, and this still is a player who was averaging 22 points and almost seven assists in his first season back from a two-year layoff,” the source said. “They know that, and would like this thing to work, but just have to see.”

He’s also shooting a paltry 41% from the field and isn’t much of a defender. He wasn’t worth the contract even when he signed it, and he certainly isn’t worth it now. If the Wizards want to turn this thing around, hitching their wagon to an overpaid volume shooter with a long injury history and a tendency to bring guns into work isn’t the best way to do it.

Jones’s source uses the pronoun “they” to describe the Wizards, so it doesn’t sound like he/she is actually with the team. It will be interesting to see how the team proceeds; this could just be a ruse (by the source or team) to lead the media to think that Arenas’s fate hasn’t already been sealed. We shall see.


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Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

Arenas doesn’t feel the Wizards have supported him

January 15, 2010 /

Get this — Gilbert Arenas feels disrespected by the Washington Wizards. Per the Washington Post…

A person close to Arenas said Thursday that Arenas believes President Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards management failed to support him following his locker room confrontation on Dec. 21 with teammate Javaris Crittenton.

Arenas, the person close to the player said, has told NBA investigators that his flippant behavior following the incident, including the pantomiming of pistols before a game that led to an indefinite suspension from Stern, was because he felt the Wizards organization had turned its back on him.

“If your own franchise, the people you considered family, weren’t there for you when you needed them most, would you want to play for them and be around them anymore?” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Arenas “was wrong for bringing guns into the locker room, and it’s going to mean pleading guilty to a felony. It’s serious business. But the way this came out and how Ernie and the organization handled the facts makes you wonder if he will ever play for them again.”

Let me get this straight: This clown brings guns into his place of business, threatens (jokingly or not) a teammate over a gambling debt, and expects the team to “support” him? When they don’t live up to his expectations, he mocks the situation during pregame festivities and them blames the organization’s lack of support for his complete lack of tact (and common sense)?

A quote later in the story sums it up best…

“Until Gilbert realizes none of this would have happened if he hadn’t brought guns in the locker room and accepts responsibility for his actions, he won’t be welcomed back anywhere,” said an NBA official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The Wizards need to do everything they can to void Arenas’s contract. They’ve already paid him $40 million of a deal worth $121 million, so it’s not like he’s going to walk away with nothing.

Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

Arenas charged with felony, reaches plea deal

January 15, 2010 /

Per FoxSports.com…

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was charged with felony gun possession on Thursday in connection with a Dec. 21 locker room confrontation with a teammate.

Prosecutors charged Arenas with one count of carrying a pistol without a license, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. But Arenas reached a plea deal that could result in much less or even no jail time, according to the Washington Post.

Over on TrueHoop, J.A. Adande speculates (prior to the plea deal being announced) that the Wizards will want to terminate Arenas’s contract.

As far as criminal behavior, there have been countless misdemeanors that have received only minor suspensions from the league, including a seven-game suspension for Stephen Jackson for firing a gun outside an Indianapolis strip club in 2006.

A felony charge leaves no gray area. Nor is there much room for feelings. In the Wizards organization there is genuine concern for Gilbert Arenas the person, still a likable guy despite his horrendous decision, now facing the ultra-serious prospect of up to five years in prison. But if the case were to conclude with a guilty plea or felony conviction and a prison sentence it’s unimaginable that they would want to keep his salary cap-clogging contract on their books. There’s also a sense Stern will use this as a strong example of the penalties for violating his ban of guns on team property. One Wizards source has feared Stern’s punishment more than the court’s all along.

The Wizards are in a tough spot. If they try to void his contract and fail, then they’re stuck with a player who is due to make more than $80 million over the next four years and knows that the team tried to get rid of him. If they do manage to void his contract, they’ll lose him with no compensation. At this point, Arenas is more than a hindrance than a help, and the Wizards would be far better off rebuilding from scratch (or building around Caron Butler).


Photo from fOTOGLIF

NBA

TMZ: Wizards tell Arenas they can void his contract

January 12, 2010 /

TMZ is reporting (via “sources”) that the Washington Wizards have already informed Gilbert Arenas that they believe he is in violation of the morality clause that is in every NBA contract.

We’re told a team official was trading text messages with Arenas after the locker room incident. Sources tell TMZ … in one of the messages, the official told Arenas the team felt Agent Zero violated the clause in his contract prohibiting him from engaging in conduct detrimental to the team or the NBA … and they could have the contract voided as a result.

Most NBA contracts contain morality clauses — but it’s difficult to void an NBA contract on those grounds. The Indiana Pacers didn’t void Ron Artest’s contract after “The Malice at the Palace” in 2004.

What’s the point of having a morality clause in a contract if it can’t be exercised? If a player is brandishing a firearm in your locker room and threatening his co-workers, isn’t that immoral?

This will be an interesting story to watch. It is definitely in the best interests of the franchise to void his contract, which was bloated the day he signed it.

NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

TMZ: Police say Arenas/Crittenton standoff caught on tape

January 7, 2010 /

Sources have told TMZ that the Gilbert Arenas/Javaris Crittenton incident may have been caught on tape.

We’re told the Washington Wizards have told D.C. cops they have locker room surveillance video but are having trouble downloading it. The Geek Squad — aka computer-savvy detectives — are going to the Wizards organization today to help.

And get this — a source connected with the investigation tells TMZ the Wizards have been “over cooperative” with cops — as the source says, “almost as if they want Arenas to go down.”

Why would the Wizards want to go down? Hmm. Maybe it’s the four years and $80 million remaining on his contract. If he gets into serious trouble with the law, the Wizards may be able to void his contract.

Arenas’ contract would be nullified if convicted of a felony. Instead of having a team salary of $79 million, the Wizards would sit at a far more manageable $62 million, with their largest, long-term obligation magically off the books.

Making matters worse (or maybe better, from the Wizards perspective), Arenas did not have a license for the guns (TMZ).

SI.com has more on the possibility of voiding his contract.

The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement clearly states that a contract can be voided if a player “at any time, fails, refuses, or neglects to conform his personal conduct to standards of good citizenship, good moral character (defined here to mean not engaging in acts of moral turpitude, whether or not such acts would constitute a crime), and good sportsmanship …” It could be argued that any criminal charges leveled against Arenas would constitute a failure in personal conduct.

I’m a little torn on this issue. Part of me would like to see the Wizards suffer for signing a player coming off of an injury to such a bloated contract. But given his lack of remorse, Arenas should pay for what he did, and if that means the franchise can erase his deal from the books, then so be it.

I like the guy’s quirkiness, but this is ridiculous.

NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

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