The Hawks lose Josh Childress to Olympiakos
In what is a major blow to the Atlanta Hawks and the NBA, Josh Childress has agreed to terms with Greek powerhouse Olympiakos.
Former Hawks swingman Josh Childress has signed with Olympiakos of Greece, a three-year, fully guaranteed contract worth far more than the $20 million initially believed to be his prize.
Could there be a more stunning turns of events for fans who thought Childress was destined to remain in a Hawks’ uniform for at least the next four or five years?
It’s a groundbreaking move for all sorts of reasons, none of them terribly thrilling for the Hawks and their tattered reputation.
Childress is one of the most productive small forwards in the game, and his departure is a bad sign for the league. First and foremost, the NBA needs his talent.
But on a macro level, it makes the restricted free agency system look outdated and ridiculous. NBA teams are reluctant to sign other team’s restricted free agents because they know the player’s current team is likely to match the offer. They’d rather wait a year and make a run at the player when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. But, in this case, the Hawks can’t match Olympiakos’ offer, so Childress is gone, at least for a season.
Given the new landscape of global basketball (and the seemingly nonstop drop of the U.S. Dollar), the league should do away with restricted free agency altogether.
It almost seems like restricted free agency is at the point where both the players and the owners would be interested in changes. You mentioned the fact that teams will typically match offers (unless they are way overpriced), but I think an equally large problem is that teams have a week to match offers. If a team decides to go out and sign a restricted free agent to an offer sheet, their cash is tied up for a week. Then, when the other team decides to match their offer, they are left without that particular free agent or others that went off the market during that week.
Basically, it’s a lose-lose: they overpay or they don’t sign anyone.
Great point. Teams don’t want to tie up cash for a week. That’s another reason why they are reluctant to sign a restricted free agent to an offer sheet.
It will be interesting to see how the lose of Childress changes the way teams deal with their restricted free agents. Will they continue to low ball their players when Europe is a viable option? We’ll see.