Free agency got a lot more interesting last night with the news that Elton Brand and Baron Davis are both opting out of their contracts at the last minute and test the waters.  Both players are leaving a nice chunk of change on the table ($16M for Brand, $17.8M for Baron) to see what they can get from other teams.

This is big on a couple of fronts for Gilbert.  First and foremost, Gilbert can no longer assert that he’s unquestionably the best available player on the market.  You can certainly make the argument that he’s the best free agent out there, but it’s a lot harder to make that argument today than it was yesterday.  Secondly, it makes the Warriors and Clippers serious players in free agency now that Elton and Baron’s contracts are off of the books.

According to Ivan Carter, the Warriors wasted no time making their intentions known to Gilbert, a former Warrior, offering him a 5 year deal worth over $100 million right after free agency opened.  He also mentions a rumor that Baron is trying to join with Elton in L.A., but if that rumor falls through, there’s always the chance that they could switch out Baron with Gilbert to get Brand some help.

But enough about everyone else, what are the Wiz doing?  Ivan Carter reported that the Wizards offered him the max, but warned him that it would hurt their financial flexibility.  He said the max deal is 6 years/$124 million and Mike Jones of the Washington Times is reporting 6 years/$127 million.  I’m not sure which of those two figures is correct, but both are reporting that Gilbert could sign for less to help bring someone else in, so those figures might not mean a lot in the end.