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*Done to the tune of “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time.”

The NBA’s free agent season is upon us and thanks to various opt-outs, there are a few more gems on the market, provided your team is willing to spend the cash. The biggest names choosing to opt-out of their current contracts are Baron Davis, Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas, Corey Maggette and Shawn Marion to name a few. Of these players, Brand, Marion, and Arenas are expected to stay with the teams they are currently with while Davis and Maggette could very well wind up in different cities.

For Brand and Davis, by choosing to opt-out, both players left substantial amounts of money on the table in order to pursue a new contract and perhaps a new team. While acknowledging he’d like to stay in Los Angeles with the Clippers, by opting-out, Brand left $16.4 million on the table in order to renegotiate for a new long-term deal. When Davis elected to discard his current contract with the Golden State Warriors, he forfeited the rights to the 17.8 million salary he would’ve made next season.

Now there are rumors indicating the Clippers are going to try and sign Davis, although, the team has met with other free agent point guards like Beno Udrih and Jose Calderon. LA’s other team would save money by signing either one of the other non-Davis point guards but neither one has Davis’ ability.

As for the player in our lead image, Gilbert Arenas, he is expected to resign with the Wizards after they signed teammate Antwan Jamison to a long-term deal. When Arenas has spoke about staying in Washington, his desire was for the team to keep Jamison as well. Now that that detail has been taken care, What’s Eating Gilbert is expected to remain with the Wizards.

The question is, will Gilbert be getting the max contract or will he take less money to stay? Thanks to the Wizards Insider, we now know Arenas was offered a max-level contract that would pay him $124 million over six years. The Wizards offer was made to counter one from Baron Davis’ old team, the Golden State Warriors, which was reported in the neighborhood of $100 million.

Based on Golden State’s activity, it really seems like Baron Davis has played his last game in Golden State. If your team was confident they were going to retain his services, would they have offered Arenas?

ESPN’s Chad Ford has a list of the the best free agents available this off-season. Do you see anybody that could fit your team and make them better, provided they didn’t blow their whole salary structure to sign them?

1. Elton Brand, Clippers
2. Gilbert Arenas, Wizards
3. Baron Davis, Warriors
4. Corey Maggette, Clippers
5. DeSagana Diop, Nets
6. Beno Udrih, Kings
7. Kurt Thomas, Spurs
8. James Posey, Celtics
9. Mickael Pietrus, Warriors
10. Ricky Davis, Heat

Honorable mention:

Kwame Brown, Grizzlies — (Kwame Brown? Really?)
Shaun Livingston, Clippers
Brent Barry, Spurs
Bostjan Nachbar, Nets
Carlos Arroyo, Magic
Chris Duhon, Bulls
Eduardo Najera, Nuggets
Matt Barnes, Warriors
Alonzo Mourning, Heat — (No next Tiger Woods, there, Alonzo?)
Gerald Green, Rockets
Patrick O’Bryant, Warriors
Jason Williams, Heat
Juwan Howard, Mavs
Jarvis Hayes, Pistons
Robert Horry, Spurs — (Have the big shots run out?)
James Jones, Blazers
Michael Finley, Spurs
Jannero Pargo, Hornets
Damon Stoudamire, Spurs
Sam Cassell, Celtics
Jamaal Magloire, Nets
Kareem Rush, Pacers
Gordan Giricek, Suns
Michael Doleac, Timberwolves
Francisco Elson, Sonics
Keyon Dooling, Magic
Quinton Ross, Clippers
Antoine Wright, Mavericks
Fred Jones, Knicks
Juan Dixon, Pistons
Maurice Evans, Magic
Primoz Brezec, Raptors
Anthony Johnson, Kings
Tyronn Lue, Kings
Theo Ratliff, Pistons
Adonal Foyle, Magic
Sebastian Telfair, Timberwolves — (Is this what going through the fire got you?)
Kirk Snyder, Timberwolves

Happy NBA free agency period. Good luck everybody. Finally, here’s another good read on the NBA’s free agent extravaganza.

Tags: $$$, Baron Davis, Elton Brand, Free Agents, Gilbert Arenas, Hot Stove, NBA

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