Ivan Carter of The Washington Post is getting it done.
On the first night of free agency, Carter earned every penny they pay him when he cranked out a blog post at roughly 3 a.m. shedding some light on the initial craziness. I highly suggest you click the link to read the posting, but here are a few highlights:
– Baron Davis opted out of the final year of his contract with the Golden State Warriors, which would have paid him nearly $18 million. Five hours later, Carter reported that word on the street is that Davis will join my man, Elton Brand, on the Clippers next season.
– Within 30 minutes of the start of free agency, the Warriors, who now have money to spend, put in a call to Gilbert Arenas and offered him a maximum-level contract of five years and more than $100 million. Guess it’s safe to say the Warriors regret ever letting Gil leave in the first place.
– After locking up Antawn Jamison, Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld offered Arenas a maximum six year, $124 million deal. Grunfeld apparently also laid it all on the line, telling Gilbert that if he takes the max deal, then the Wiz offseason is essentially over. There will be no money to retain Roger Mason Jr., or to pick up any other pieces to round out the roster.
– The final nugget from Carter is that the Sacramento Kings, who haven’t been noteworthy since Chris Webber was still good, apparently want Agent Zero so badly that they’re allegedly willing to trade away their entire team if need be to make room for him.
That’s a lot of good stuff, especially considering that this is a weak free agent class and the only other news of the day is that Tiger Woods won’t be coming to town.
