Josh Childress chooses Olympiacos

Josh Childress

24-07-2008 11:48

American forward Josh Childress has signed a multiyear contract with Euroleague power Olympiacos Piraeus, the team announced Wednesday. Childress (203, 25) arrives from Atlanta of the NBA where he has spent the past four seasons. He traveled to Greece on Monday to familiarize himself with Athens and to finalize the negotiations.

Heading overseas allows Childress to make more money than he could have as a restricted free agent in the United States. The Hawks had the right to match an offer from another NBA team, but not from an international club. Agent Jim Tanner said Wednesday the three-year deal was worth about $20 million after taxes. The money is guaranteed, and Childress can opt out of the contract after each year.

Childress said he initially intended to re-sign with the Hawks, who made the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and pushed eventual champion Boston to seven games in the first round. But he felt the team didn’t show a sense of urgency in making a deal, and he turned down an offer he considered too low. Atlanta general manager Rick Sund said that while he believes the Hawks made a proposal that was competitive within the NBA, it would have been fiscally irresponsible to try to match Olympiacos. Sund wouldn’t reveal the exact numbers of Atlanta's offer. But he said it exceeded the salary cap’s midlevel exception, which is more than $5.5 million, and would’ve have made Childress the team’s fourth-highest paid player.

Josh Childress averaged 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 76 regular season games last season and has averaged double figures in points in each of his NBA seasons since being selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Before that Childress played college basketball at Stanford University, where he was named the 2003-04 Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year. He joins a star-studded cast at Olympiacos, which includes two current and two former All-Euroleague selections – three of whom (Theo Papaloukas, Yotam Halperin and Nikola Vujcic) joined the club this summer.

"I came to a great city and a big club. They have an outstanding organization and they managed to make me feel at home," Childress said after signing. He is due to return to the United States this week with three official Euroleague basketballs to practice with as he prepares for the Euroleague Basketball season.

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