When the NBA confirmed yesterday that the Wizards would be playing a pair of preseason games in Europe next fall, they set up a conference call to the media with Wizards’ coach Eddie Jordan, and Gilbert Arenas.  This can only be a good sign that Gilbert isn’t going to leave in the off-season.  Just ask Gilbert who said this during the conference call:

I didn’t opt out to leave; I was opting out to to sign back.

Eddie had this to say:

Going into next year, we don’t think we are going to see a lot of wholesale changes. We have got eight guys under contract and those are our top eight guys outside of Gilbert. We know that we are going to sign Gilbert back and Antawn back and they are high priorities for us. So, we don’t look at a wholesale changes in our roster…Our rookies are under contract and Gilbert and Antawn love it here. We have a great relationship, and we knew we were the best team in the Eastern Conference when we were all healthy. We anticipate signing our two priority guys.

Finally Wizards’ beat writer Ivan Carter added this:

Gilbert Arenas, Eddie Jordan and NBA commish David Stern talked about the tour on conference calls today and to me, the most interesting thing to come out of it all was how Jordan and Arenas spoke as if it is a certainty that the three-time all-star will be back next season. Jordan also thinks Antawn Jamison is going to be back as well. As you know, Arenas plans on opting out of his contract this summer and Jamison is set to be an unrestricted free agent.

Gilbert also talked to Mike Jones about the trip to Europe, it’s worth a read.

All those quotes would make it seem that there’s a very strong possibility that Gilbert’s going to be staying in D.C. for a loooooong time (besides when he goes to Europe).