Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas opted out of his National Basketball Association contract Tuesday, giving up a 12.8 million-dollar deal to become a free agent on July 1.

Arenas, a three-time All-Star who has undergone two operations on his left knee in the past 14 months, beat a June 20 deadline to file paperwork with the league under contract terms.

“It is something that he said he would do and it’s something that we expected,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. “This was just a formality.”

Arenas can begin to talk with other clubs in three weeks and has said he seeks a rich long-term deal but would take less money to stay in Washington so the Wizards could have more money to re-sign forward Antawn Jamison.

Arenas has averaged 22.8 points and 5.5 assists in a seven-year NBA career, but managed only 19.4 a game in just 13 appearances for the Wizards this past season.