Ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas recently talked about receiving a $60 million contract from the Wizards despite being in the league for only 2 years, adding that it felt unreal to him.
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Gilbert Arenas was one of the unstoppable players in the NBA in his prime. The 3x All-Star was a walking bucket and could score on practically anyone. Over an 11-year NBA career, Agent Zero averaged 20.7 points per game with four different teams.
Initially, Gilbert Arenas was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the second round. By his second year in the NBA, Arenas was a starter and averaged 18.2 points as a sophomore player. However, he was never part of the Warriors’ future plans.
As a result, he signed with the Wizards in the 2003 offseason. In fact, Washington doubled down on Arenas, giving him a $60 million six-year deal, despite the guard only being in the league for 2 years.
Recently, Gilbert Arenas himself opened up on signing such a huge contract as such a young player and commented on the pressure it put on him. So, what exactly did he say? Read on and find out…
Gilbert Arenas opens up about receiving a huge contract from the Wizards despite being only being in the league for 2 years.
Gilbert Arenas was one of the best guards in the league during his tenure with the Washington Wizards. He was an explosive offensive weapon; a human highlight reel that could give you 40 on any given night.
In fact, recently, Gilbert Arenas talked about the huge contract he inked with the Washington franchise. He goes on to say –
“It was unreal because it never happened before, not that fast. During that whole season, everyone thought that I was going to Denver because of Kiki VanDeWeghe. So, Kiki used to be my trainer in the summer and then he became the general manager for Denver. So, everyone just assumed, I assumed that’s where I’m going… What I did in that time frame has never really happened. You know a player that plays over the mid-level, within that first two years.”
“When I went into the free agency $51 million was already thrown at me. From there it was just weighing out the options… There was more money. Like Utah offered about $70 million, but John Stockton just retired and I didn’t want the pressure of following his footsteps since I wasn’t that type of point guard.”
Despite generating interest from many teams in the NBA, he opted to ultimately sign with the Wizards. For the first few years, the former guard lived up to his $60 million six-year contract with the Wizards.
In fact, his prime was highlighted by a three-year span from 2005 to 2007 where he averaged 25.5, 29.3, and 28.4 points for the Washington Wizards. In fact, he even made 3x All-NBA and 3x All-Star in the process.
Then come the injuries and controversies and his career took a downward trajectory. The three-time All-Star had played just 13 games in 2007–08 due to a knee injury and would appear in just two more during the season. Then he went team hopping before eventually calling it quits in 2012.
One can only imagine how great he could have been if the various injuries and controversies had not mired his career in the NBA. In fact, he had the potential and talent to go down as one of the best guards of our generation.
