Gilbert Arenas says he would play for Wizards again

Gilbert Arenas is going to return to the NBA next year -- teams are amazingly forgiving of sins if a player can score a lot of points. And Arenas can still score a lot of points.

And he’d be happy to do that for the Wizards, according to AP.

In his first interview since pleading guilty to a felony gun charge in January, Arenas also tells The Associated Press he’s not nervous about his sentencing date later this month -- as long as the judge goes off the “real story” of what happened when he brought guns to the team’s locker room in December.

What the Wizards do with Arenas this summer will be an interesting story to watch. We’re guessing he will not be in jail by the start of next season, instead he will be reporting to camp, but we’re smart enough to know that one should not try to predict the how the wheels of justice turn.

Arenas is owed big money -- four years left on his deal, starting at $17 million next year and escalating to $22 million. He can still ball, when healthy, but he is not worth the max-money he is getting. Certainly the Wizards would like to move him, but their options would be very limited as no other owner is lining up to take on that salary (and the publicity that would come with it).

More likely, he will be back as the veteran scorer on a rebuilding and young Wizards team. He realizes that so he is saying the right things. But if it comes to that the situation will be awkward for everyone.