Gilbert Arenas has established himself as the starting point guard for the Golden State Warriors and now the Warriors are hoping to be able to keep him next year. Matt Steinmetz of the Contra-Costa Times reports that Arenas will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and he may play himself out of the Warriors? price range.

Even though Warriors coach Eric Musselman believed that Bob Sura would be the starter for his team in training camp, injuries allowed Arenas to step into that role. He has since proven to be one of the Warriors? most important players.

As a restricted free agent with "Early Bird" rights, the Warriors will have the ability to match any offers for Arenas up to $4.5 million (RealGM estimates that figure may be closer to $5 million). If a team offers more, Golden State could lose their future point guard.

"From our perspective, we'll continue to communicate with him," Musselman said. "He knows how important he is to us. Hopefully he feels like the Warriors drafted him and he earned the opportunity. He has earned that opportunity. He's seized it. He's never relinquished that position and he won't."

Arenas continues to maintain he doesn't think about his pending free agency. He says he'll wait until the season is over and go from there.