Arenas eager to start over with Orlando

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Gilbert Arenas was so eager to leave Washington he didn’t even pack his bags.

After he found out his trade to the Magic was official, he ended his workout, grabbed a pair of shoes, said his goodbyes and caught the first flight to Orlando. There was no time to waste.

The chance to start over had finally arrived.

“This is a new beginning for me,” Arenas said late Saturday night in a gray Magic practice T-shirt and black shorts, finishing a workout in the team’s practice facility. “This is a true new beginning. Changing my number was a new beginning, but this is a real new beginning with a new city, new people and new team, and I get to start fresh.”

The Magic only hope he leaves all his problems behind.

Arenas was suspended 50 games last season for bringing a gun into Washington’s locker room. He also faked an injury to sit out a preseason game this year, and his off-the-cuff remarks were a constant distraction for a young team now built around No. 1 overall pick John Wall.

Arenas never really fit with Washington once Wall took the reins as the franchise player and new point guard. The Wizards were going through growing pains this season, as young teams do, and Arenas felt their plans no longer included him.

“I sensed something when I was coming off the bench,” Arenas said. “The excuse was that they needed scoring off the bench. My question was, ‘Where’s the scoring from the starting five?’ I figured they were probably shipping me out because I was playing well and some people would probably have some interest in me.”’

The interest came from a place so many had expected but always wondered if it would really happen — Arenas included.

Magic president of basketball operations Otis Smith has been a close friend, mentor and “father figure,” in Arenas’ words, to the guard since they were together at Golden State — Smith in the front office and Arenas a young player. Smith has never given up hope that the three-time All-Star might again be one of the NBA’s most dynamic players.