Arenas is now a felon. The fallout begins... Part 2: To Void or To Trade, That is the Question

Well, like Hamlet, the Wizards are thinking in a similar light in terms of what to do with him. To Void, or To Trade, THAT is the question.

Why not buy out his contract or consider playing Arenas again?
Before going on, I have heard a third and four option, and why I doubt that the Wizards will try these choices. I have heard on the blogs and the DC sports radio that the Wizards may try to BUY OUT his contract. This to me is ridiculous. Considering that Arenas is owed about $80 million for four more years, this alone is worth potentially a quarter of the Wizards franchise itself. Second, Arenas would probably not want to get bought out because the amount he would get is probably less than the $80 million anyway, after all it is worth nearly a quarter or about that of the team itself. The fourth option is Arenas putting on a Wizards uniform again after serving his judicial and NBA punishments. This is also unlikely at best because the Wizards have already taken him out of the highlight videos, the intro video, and taken his jersey out of the team store (the NBA did it too for that matter). Also Arenas believes that these actions the Wizards have done especially in the last couple weeks were them bailing on him AND not giving him any support during this time. I think both are true.

Why Void or Trade Arenas?
At this point, to me, the void or trade options are the most likely options for now. Why? First, the legal process hasn't been finished yet, so either option is possible. As it stands now, Gilbert's gun charge conviction is a felony, where he faces up to five years in prison plus a fine of $5,000.00, based on DC laws, where basically having any gun without a license is illegal unlike Gilbert's home state of Virginia, where more loop holes exist.

When should the Wizards Void?
The Wizards should only use this option if they have a reasonably good chance to actually get this to happen. If you're Irene Pollin, Ted Leonsis, or Ernie Grunfeld, you have to know the players union will fight this tooth and nail and they got other players to keep their money for worse offenses than Gilbert did. There is no doubt that the Wizards would love to void his deal, but if they want to do it and get a high probability of success, Gil's going to have to be sentenced to prison, AND to a long term, closer to the five years. If Gil is sentenced to five years, he is gonna get voided and there's nothing the Union can really do if he's not gonna play during the suspension as it is. However, all the legal analysts say that he's likely not to get more than six months, which is what was RECOMMENDED. March 26 will be the judgment day for whether the voiding will be realistic or not.

If they get Arenas voided, we could see this as early as next year, since this frees up a lot of space, and especially if they ship Butler and Jamison out of DC. With some luck we can be the envy of the league:






When should the Wizards trade?
This is the most realistic option, though few teams, if any want him now. First, he had three surgeries on that knee. Now, you have all this baggage. Sure, not as bad criminally like Stephen Jackson, but he does use shoes as toilets. The good news about the trade really, is that Arenas won't be in DC. The bad news is that we may get a lot of bad players in exchange, which are also bad contracts.. The Wizards shouldn't trade Arenas until after they know about the sentence length AND the NBA's final punishment. Also, they should wait and see how desperate teams will be for him AND who they get in return. Among better teams, the Lakers and Rockets could use a good scoring PG and Gil can fit the role. So can the Knicks, Grizzlies, and Wolves, among others.

Well what do you think the Wizards should do? Void with the risk of having to play Arenas again? Or trade him, possibly for worse contracts from a basketball perspective?

Void the contract...

Tired... will go into it more tomorrow.

"Please hold..." (Girl from Ipanema plays) 'Tall and tan and young and lovely. The girl from ipanema goes walking. And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah. When she walks, she’s like a samba. That swings so cool...'

They need to avoid the contract,you are going to pay 17 mill for a guy who won't play untill the next October....

The contract voiding process is longer than just the Wizards voiding it. First the team exercises its right. Second, the Union will fight for Gil to keep his money, if he is sentenced to less than three years in prison. Last, an arbitrator decides what the final outcome will be. If the Wizards fail in getting this thing off their books, then Arenas may have no other choice but to play for the Wizards and vice versa

I say void, cause that was a big contract to begin with.
Although it seems like a time-consuming process (based on how you described it anyway), it can potentially result in the freeing up of cap space, right?

Yes, this process will only be done if the chances of it being successful are very good at least. The process then would be quick because it's a black and white case and could make the Wizard like those snapshots above from the future

well if he's in jail... they don't have to pay him, right?

if he ends up in jail and they don't need to pay him, then they should just use that time to figure out what to do. I doubt anyone would want to trade for him.. so you can rule that out right away..

3 Hotties One Cup wrote:

Dream On wrote:

well if he's in jail... they don't have to pay him, right?

if he ends up in jail and they don't need to pay him, then they should just use that time to figure out what to do. I doubt anyone would want to trade for him.. so you can rule that out right away..

hahaha. i didnt know what else to put....

haha!!!

yeah man.. i've been like that for a week straight...

jk

you probably think that im not kidding though hahaha

hmm.. the pic isnt showing for me

Me as a baby....

jk

that's you right now...

Dream On wrote:

well if he's in jail... they don't have to pay him, right?

if he ends up in jail and they don't need to pay him, then they should just use that time to figure out what to do. I doubt anyone would want to trade for him.. so you can rule that out right away..

Well, though Arenas is suspended, the Wizards still have to pay his salary, they send it to the NBA league office which donates it all to charity, so it's not like it goes into the employees' holiday bonus fund. It's not like the Wizards are saving money. As stated before, the Wizards want to void this asap upon knowing the sentence here, assuming that the sentence is significantly longer than 6 months. I don't think trying to void a player and having it kicked back will be something the team would want to risk, because if he's "untradeable", then they will still have to have him on the team, and he will likely continue to play for the Wizards (since new ownership would be in full control by then - Leonsis right now owns 44% of the team and owns 100% of the NHL and WNBA teams) Buying out is not a realistic option until at least 2012-2013 given the money left on it, unless Dan Snyder owned this team and though Leonsis is a billionaire, I don't see him doing it either since his billions is based on his perceived worth. The Wizards are in good financial shape and are in better shape than most teams to be honest, but we aren't the richest team either like the Knicks are.

**No reactions to my carefully made photos of the 2011 NBA Finals if Gilbert is voided"? I know this will NEVER happen, but come on. I expected something!**

thewiz06 wrote:

Dream On wrote:

well if he's in jail... they don't have to pay him, right?

if he ends up in jail and they don't need to pay him, then they should just use that time to figure out what to do. I doubt anyone would want to trade for him.. so you can rule that out right away..

Well, though Arenas is suspended, the Wizards still have to pay his salary, they send it to the NBA league office which donates it all to charity, so it's not like it goes into the employees' holiday bonus fund. It's not like the Wizards are saving money. As stated before, the Wizards want to void this asap upon knowing the sentence here, assuming that the sentence is significantly longer than 6 months. I don't think trying to void a player and having it kicked back will be something the team would want to risk, because if he's "untradeable", then they will still have to have him on the team, and he will likely continue to play for the Wizards (since new ownership would be in full control by then - Leonsis right now owns 44% of the team and owns 100% of the NHL and WNBA teams) Buying out is not a realistic option until at least 2012-2013 given the money left on it, unless Dan Snyder owned this team and though Leonsis is a billionaire, I don't see him doing it either since his billions is based on his perceived worth. The Wizards are in good financial shape and are in better shape than most teams to be honest, but we aren't the richest team either.

ohhh alright. Yeah.. that would suck for the Wizards if they are unable to void his contract... cuz thats A LOT of money they would be giving to charity haha. Which isn't a bad thing... at least it's going towards something good and not to someone like David stern.

On CSN they said if arenas sentence is longer than 20 days then he's not availible to play and we have a good chance at voiding his contract..good news for wizards.

Dream On wrote:

Me as a baby....

jk

To void the contract

Arenas and Crittenton are suspended for the season.

What now?

They will void him

Who the heck would take gilberts contract!?

The Hornets would probably trade away half their roster for him, then trade him to some team for a 2027 draft pick.

The warriors will prolly offer monta ellis for gilbert