The Washington Wizards have eight potential free agents on the roster, including projected starters Hughes, Haywood and Brown. Haywood, Brown and second-year point guard Steve Blake could be restricted free agents after this season, and Hughes an unrestricted free agent.

Anthony Peeler and Samaki Walker both signed one-year deals last summer. The team also has until Oct. 31 to pick up the options on Jared Jeffries and Juan Dixon, otherwise one or both could become free agents as well.

"You just play ball and don't think about the money, 'cause if you chase it you always lose it, especially in Vegas," Brown said.

 The collective bargaining agreement will expire after this season, but Brown said he doesn't think anything will get done until next summer. "I'm not thinking about contracts, I'm just trying to get healthy so I can play again," said Brown, who has missed all of training camp with a broken bone in his right foot. "We've got to get the new deal on the table for the whole entire league, so it doesn't make sense for an owner to talk about a deal right now."

"This is definitely an important year for me, but I can't look at it like, 'It's my contract year. It's my contract year,' and put undo pressure on myself," Haywood said. "Just play every game to the best of my ability. If I do that, the contract thing will take care of itself. I think it's motivation. If you have a bad game, you can be like, 'It's my contract year.' But you don't let it control you."