Arenas Will Remain with the Wizards for the Low, Low Price of $111 Million

Antawn Jamison, Washington Wizards fan and bloggers everywhere can breathe easy: Gilbert Arenas has agreed to ink a lower-than-max deal which will reportedly pay him $111 million over six years.

Arenas told the Washington Times and Washington Post that he was offered a maximum deal in the neighborhood of $127 million on Tuesday, the first day of the free agency period.

"(The Wizards) offered me the max, and I'm basically giving back $16 million," Arenas told the Washington Times from China, where [he] is traveling as part of promotional tour for a shoe company. "This is in line with what I've been saying the whole time. You see players take max deals and they financially bind their teams. I don't wanna be one of those players and three years down the road your team is strapped and can't do anything about it."

Jamison was putting the screws on Arenas to resign, Wizards fans were worried they would be mediocre and fail to entertain, and well, we bloggers just like Hibachi hanging out in the capitol. It makes for good news.

Arenas had two separate max deals on the table from the Wizards and the Warriors, but no one really thought he was going to do anything other than sign again with Washington.

Agent Zero also noted that he took less than the max, and that is true. So kudos to him, but remember, Jamison did the same thing so Gil could get paid, and without any additional cap space, this is a second round team. In other words, not taking the max actually benefits Arenas in the long run as well.