Gilbert Arenas was one of the best scorers in the NBA from 2004 to 2007. His prime intersected with generational talent Dwyane Wade’s arrival in Miami in 2003. What if both Arenas and Wade joined forces in South Beach during their peak years? On The OGs podcast with Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, Arenas revealed how he almost teamed up with The Flash during free agency in 2003.
Advertisement
The 3x All-Star pointed out that he was the second-most sought-after free agent behind Lamar Odom that year. Therefore, he attracted a lot of attention from different teams, including the rebuilding Miami Heat, who were searching for young talents to pair with their franchise centerpiece, Wade.
The Heat’s plan was clear. Use both Dwyane Wade and Gilbert Arenas as combo guards, which would have created a flexible system in the backcourt. The two could have been a deadly duo as Wade’s nifty inside and mid-range game would have been nicely complemented by Arenas’ much better long-range game.
However, the idea never panned out. As per Arenas, President Pat Riley hesitated to give a six-year, $55 million deal to a 21-year-old athlete, who had yet to display All-Star level talent.
“Pat Riley was coming after me and they were saying, we’re going to play you guys at the one and two…But Pat Riley said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable paying a young guy $55 million, who hasn’t proven himself,‘” Arenas told UD and Miller.
The Heat had around $10 million in salary cap room at the time, so they could afford the contract. But their President was looking for a veteran talent to pair up with Wade.
At the time, Arenas had appeared in just 129 games across two seasons. He was yet to become a 20+ points per game scorer. Thus, a Heat-Arenas partnership couldn’t manifest at the time because of Riley’s reluctance.
Agent Zero received a much more lucrative deal from the Washington Wizards after the Heat Prez walked away from the contract negotiation. The Wizards were in full rebuild mode then. They needed someone to take the reins at the Point Guard position.
Thus, they offered a six-year, $64 million contract to Gilbert Arenas, who accepted it without any hesitation. He took full advantage of the opportunity. After struggling during the 2003-04 season, he enjoyed three straight All-Star seasons, which shot him to prominence.
The guard ended up becoming one of the most legendary players in Wizards history.
On the other hand, Miami acquired Shaquille O’Neal the following year and the D-Wade Shaq duo went on to win the 2006 NBA Finals. So things worked out well for both parties.
