The Washington Wizards are encouraging fans and media to arrive early for Friday?s game vs. the Chicago Bulls.?? Security measures will be increased due to the attendance of President Barack Obama, and those attending the game may experience a delay in entering Verizon Center.? To reduce delays, attendees are urged to limit personal belongings.
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Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. and there will be no public parking (permit only) in Verizon Center.?

President Barack Obama may attend Friday's game between the Wizards and Bulls at the Verizon Center.

The Bulls visited Obama at the White House on Thursday.

Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is practicing with his teammates once again, but claims that he won't rush back from his most recent knee surgery.

"I'm running, jumping, dunking, feeling good. No pain, no swelling," Arenas told the Washington Post. "My balance is back, my speed is back. The only thing I have to get used to again is being around other bodies out there on the court. I'm working on getting timing back. The only thing I'm not doing is playing in games."

Arenas hasn't played this season because of three knee procedures in an 18-month span.

"The way I look at it: I rushed back twice and got hurt again twice, so this time, I'm going to take my time and make sure," he added.

The hopes of the Washington Wizards were heightened on Monday when Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood took part in non-contact drills, the Associated Press is reporting.

"We had two guys that were able to participate that haven't been able to in the past," interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "Both Brendan and Gilbert did some shooting and some running up and down the floor, so it was great to see those guys out there."

Neither player has played this season due to injuries.

The Cavaliers and Blazers both made a push for Caron Butler, but Ernie Grunfeld never seriously considered trading either player, according to team and league sources.

"We were having a number of conversations and usually those conversations go right down to the deadline," Grunfeld said. "There were a couple of things we thought might happen, but nothing came to fruition that we thought was going to help us."

The Washington Wizards have interest in acquiring Jared Jeffries from the New York Knicks, an Eastern Conference official said.

Jeffries was drafted by the Wizards and was a member of the club until 2006 when he signed a contract with the Knicks as a restricted free agent.

Numerous teams have called the Wizards about forwards Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, but team president Ernie Grunfeld isn't interested in a salary dump.

Washington could stand pat, despite the interest in the former All-Star forwards.

The Cavaliers have reportedly offered Wally Szczerbiak and his $13.8 million expiring contract, while the Blazers have interest in Butler.

"You can't always be in charge of names that come up, but let me ask you something: If you were one of the other 29 teams in the league, who would you ask for?" interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "You'd ask for Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. So we can't be in charge of who people ask for. All we can do is say yes or no. My belief is that people are inquiring and as far as I know, the answer is no. We believe in the core of this team, we know why we are where we are. We just don't have healthy bodies."

The Cleveland Cavaliers have discussed a potential move which would see the expiring contract of Wally Szczerbiak go to Washington for leader Antawn Jamison, Ian Thomsen from Sports Illustrated is reporting.

The Wizards are believed to be reluctant to give up their leader, but if the deal goes through it may push the Cavaliers even higher up in the East.  Jamison is averaging 21.4 points and 9.1 rebounds this season.

"If Cleveland can get Jamison, that will be a home run," said an Eastern Conference executive with knowledge of the talks. "Jamison would give them a big boost -- he can finish games with them, and he's a slasher who will get more open shots playing with LeBron. I think that would clinch [the NBA Finals] for them. Boston would have a tough time with them."

The Wizards will have one of the top picks in the 2009 NBA Draft, but could possibly deal it because of their financial situation.

The team has about $75.9 million committed to contracts for next season, which would put them over the luxury-tax threshold.

If the Wizards were to deal the pick, they would likely try to attach a troublesome contract along with it.

The Wizards traded their previous lottery pick in 2004 to Dallas.

The Wizards are struggling and feeling the luxury tax crunch, but they haven't been linked to any serious trade rumors thus far.

Washington has, however, reportedly been getting calls about Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, who has two years and $20.2 million left on his affordable contract.

According to the Washington Times, the Wizards are unlikely to make a major move because they still believe in their core.

?Over the course of the last four or five years, we established ourselves as a winning organization, and we want to keep going that way,? Ernie Grunfeld said. ?Once we get everybody back, get all of our pieces together, we can be a very competitive team.?