WASHINGTON (AP) -Gilbert Arenas insists he won't return to the Washington Wizards if forward Antawn Jamison isn't re-signed by the team.
``If he doesn't come back, I'm not coming back,'' Arenas said Wednesday in a posting on his blog, a rambling entry of more than 2,800 words.
Arenas, a three-time All-Star who missed most of this season after two operations on his left knee, can opt out of his contract. He has said since before the season that he planned to do that so he could stay with Washington for more money.
Jamison, a team co-captain and two-time All-Star, is set to become a free agent.
``I want to be back in Washington, but weird things happen in free agency,'' Arenas said on the blog. ``If Antawn is not back, then there's no point in me coming back because he's part of my success, too.''
Arenas and Jamison have been teammates the past four seasons in Washington, and they were together with the Golden State Warriors for two seasons.
``I know everybody is focusing on whether I'm coming back,'' Arenas' blog entry said, ``but I'm focusing on what he's doing.''
Arenas has averaged 22.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds in his seven-season NBA career. Jamison averaged 21.4 points - his highest output since the 2002-03 season with Golden State - and a career-best 10.2 rebounds this season, his 10th in the league.
Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld, who is scheduled to meet with the media Thursday, has said he would like to have both players back.
Last week, before Washington was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Cleveland, Grunfeld was asked about Arenas' future and replied: ``We plan on re-signing him.''
As is his wont on the blog, Arenas touched on a variety of topics Wednesday, including:
-Rehabbing his knee: ``I'm going to give it until the beginning of June before I start doing strengthening exercises again. ... For Washington, or whatever city I go to, I don't want to come in being a half a player.''
-Whether he should have tried to play at the end of the season: ``I'm glad I made a comeback because you don't ever want to have your teammates looking at you like, 'You're healthy and you sat out because of your contract.' You never want those doubts of dishonor to linger. ...''
-Wizards-Cavaliers: ``It was an entertaining series. The hype and drama behind it was bigger than I expected (but, I didn't expect DeShawn (Stevenson) to call LeBron 'overrated,' either). ... I've been in this league, I've been around the league, I've been watching the league for as long as I can remember, and I've never seen anything this wild in a series in my life.''
-His teammates: ``They should walk around with their heads held high. When I got hurt, the critics said they weren't going to be able to make the playoffs.''
-His beige slacks-and-vest-but-no-jacket ensemble: ``Luke Walton paged me after Game 6 and said, 'Why don't you take off that Easter outfit.' I didn't have white! So I had to wear some clothes that I usually wear on my Miami trips. The only thing I had that was close to white was beige. So I got clowned for wearing it, and I got fined $10,000 for it because I didn't have a jacket on.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
