As his teammates continue to battle valiantly without their top scorer, Gilbert Arenas is fighting a battle of his own. Washington Wizards team doctors aren’t fully convinced that Gil is ready to play just yet, and the frustrated star has no choice but to play the waiting game.
“Even if I’m cleared next week, that’s not enough games for me to get my swagger,” Arenas said yesterday before the team boarded a flight to Portland. “Plus, I’m going to play [fewer] minutes. When I do get back, I’ll be playing 20 minutes [a game]. That’s not enough for me to be me. I need games under my belt.”
“I just don’t know what is going to change a week from now,” he said. “All I know is that I want to play. I want to be out there.”
As badly as Arenas wants to be out on the floor with his teammates, you can’t blame the Wiz for being extra cautious with him. He is, after all, coming off a serious knee injury (which saw him miss 61 games this season), and he will be commanding top dollar on the free agent market this offseason.
With the way his teammates have held the fort, and regardless of Arenas’s frustration with the team docs, Washington can afford to take their time with his return.
