The Washington Wizards gave Gilbert Arenas the royal treatment Thursday, presenting him with a poster and a bobblehead in his likeness and taking him to owner Abe Pollin's suite to watch a sold-out WNBA game at the MCI Center.

Now they wait and hope such niceties and a multiyear offer starting at about $8 million trump anything the Warriors can counter with, including familiar surroundings and the California weather.

The Warriors' free-agent point guard and his father, Gilbert Arenas Sr., returned to the West Coast on Thursday afternoon following a two-day visit with the Wizards. Arenas' agent, Dan Fegan, did not accompany them to the nation's capital and is expected to meet with the Clippers and perhaps also the Warriors as early as today.

Washington's new president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld and coach Eddie Jordan were said to feel optimistic about the team's odds of landing Arenas, and in some NBA circles the deal is considered as good as done.

The Wizards' bid was bolstered by the recent raise in next season's salary cap to $43.84 million, nearly $2 million more than had been expected. That increased their available cap space to about $8.5 million and might have doomed the Warriors' chances to keep last season's Most Improved Player.

However, Arenas won't become a Wizard for another couple of weeks at the earliest. Because he's a restricted free agent, the Warriors would have 15 days to match any offer sheet to Arenas. As of Thursday, he had not signed one.