Posted by Dustin Chapman in Atlanta Hawks restricted free agent swingman Josh Childress has not agreed to a contract with the club, and he has not signed an offer sheet for Atlanta to match. He has taken the more financially attractive alternative, and decided to sign a lucrative three-year deal with Olympiakos of Greece.
Initial reports from earlier in the week that stated that Childress was seriously considering this option, noted that the contract would be worth roughly $20 million. As this deal has become official, the word is that the contract is worth even more than that.
We may not know the financial terms of the deal just yet, but we do know that the 25-year-old has the option of opting out of the contract following each year on the deal.
The sixth overall selection in the 2004 NBA Draft has appeared in 285 regular season games for Atlanta throughout his four-year NBA career, combining for averages of 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game on a 52.2% shooting clip.
How can you blame him? He gets to make great money for three years, he gets to travel all around the world and gain new experiences, he will probably be a top player and go-to guy, he gets to rid himself of playing for an awful organization and on top of all that he can back at the age of 28 and finish his career in the NBA if he so chooses.
I was going to do a follow up today, but good job Dustin. This didn’t shock me at all. Watch this develop into a trend. Not only is Childress getting more money, he was whine and dined like crazy. As European clubs are known for going all out for your services, if they offer you a big contract. He said today they did everything to make him feel welcome, and anybody would want that feeling. Plus Athens is actually an awesome city. It’s going to be a adjustment, but Childress made a life move here. He didn’t want to go back to the Hawks, and the Hawks didn’t want to trade him. So sign with a euro club it works out well.
Yeah, you can’t blame him. I really liked him though. Even though I’m not a Hawks fan, I’ll miss watching him a bit. Childress was definitely one of my favorite role players in the league.
This is no doubt the beginning of a trend - but could it also be the beginning of a bigger issue that the NBA will need to address? Euro teams know how to be attractive to American ball players.