Arenas Won't Sign Right Away

Free agents officially can sign NBA contracts today, but three-time all-star Gilbert Arenas isn't expected to sign his new deal with the Washington Wizards until after Tuesday, when he returns from a trip to Asia and Europe.

Arenas and the Wizards reached an agreement on a six-year, $111 million deal last week, but some details still need to be worked out and both sides wanted to wait until the NBA released next season's salary cap and luxury tax figures last night.

The salary cap rose from last season's figure of $55.63 million to around $58.6 million, and the luxury tax threshold went from $67.86 million to $71.15 million.

There are several provisions in the collective bargaining agreement that allow teams to go over the salary cap without penalty. However, teams that exceed the luxury tax threshold must pay a dollar-for-dollar tax after the season. That money is then redistributed to teams that remained under the cap.

After signing two-time all-star Antawn Jamison to a four-year, $50 million deal early last week, the Wizards had $54.2 million committed in salaries for next season.

Arenas, who was offered a maximum-level contract by the Wizards but took between $14 million and $16 million less to give the team financial flexibility, said he expects his first-season cap number to be around $14.5 million.

If that is the case, it would leave the Wizards with a portion of the mid-level exception (expected to be around $5.9 million) to sign another player and still remain under the luxury tax threshold.

The team has expressed interest in re-signing unrestricted free agent Roger Mason Jr., but the shooting guard has received interest from several other teams and could be looking for more money and a larger role than the Wizards are willing to offer.

With Arenas returning from a left knee injury along with veterans DeShawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels and the explosive Nick Young, last year's first-round draft pick who turned in a solid rookie season, the Wizards appear to be well set at guard.

One position the team could try to beef up is small forward, where two-time all-star Caron Butler has carried heavy minutes and battled several injuries that limited him to 58 games last season.

Possible free agents who could meet Washington's financial needs and also help out at small forward include Matt Barnes, who has been a key player for the Golden State Warriors the last two seasons, and James Jones, who played last season for the Portland Trail Blazers.

It's also possible that the Wizards could look to add a third point guard, one who could spell Arenas and Daniels in certain situations. Last season, after Arenas went down with a meniscus injury that forced him to miss three months, the veteran Daniels was the only pure point guard on the roster.

The team signed journeyman Mike Wilks to a 10-day contract for a short stretch when Daniels went down with a knee injury, but Wilks was not signed for the duration of the season because the Wizards were just below the luxury tax threshold and did not want to go over.

Whatever signings the Wizards consider, the team likely will carry only 14 players into the regular season.

Wizards Note: The team will hold a minicamp on Friday and Saturday to get ready for the Las Vegas summer league, with the Wizards to begin play on Monday.

The 15-player roster includes fourth-year forward Andray Blatche, last season's rookie trio of Young, Dominic McGuire and Oleksiy Pecherov, rookie first-round pick JaVale McGee and 2006 second-round pick Vladimir Veremeenko, who has played the last two seasons in Russia.

Veremeenko's arrival in Washington has been delayed as he tries to clear up visa issues, but the team believes he will be in town in time for the minicamp. The roster, which also includes former Georgetown guard Jonathan Wallace and former George Mason forward Will Thomas, could be trimmed before the team heads for Las Vegas.

Team president Ernie Grunfeld expects to sign McGee, who was taken with the 18th pick in the June 26 draft, to a standard rookie contract before summer league begins.