With the recent move by Josh Childress to turn down the Atlanta Hawks for a more lucrative deal with a team in Greece, there's been talk and concern that more and more NBA players will make the leap across the pond and play in Europe.
Only time and, ultimately, money will determine if Childress becomes a trendsetter or just a rarity.
But having said that, it appears that there's plenty of money available to American players willing to take their skills abroad.
Check out the following excerpt from an article in the Oregonian regarding former Clipper Dan Dickau, who was originally willing to accept the league minimum to stay in LA:
According to Realgm.com, Unics Kazan, a team in the Russian Basketball Super League, has offered to pay Dickau $4 million a season for two years. Dickau, 29, averaged 5.3 points and 2.6 assists while playing in 67 games for the Los Angeles Clippers last season.
Dickau earned $770,610 last season and is an unrestricted free agent this summer.
"Sometimes, players get caught up in the, 'I'm an NBA player and I'm only going to play in the NBA,' ego thing," said Dickau, who called the Realgm.com report an Internet rumor. "If there's a situation that's better -- career-wise and financially -- you hope you could put your ego on the backburner and make the best decision."
Dickau's agent, Mark Bartlestein, said a number of NBA and European teams are interested in the point guard.
"There's some folks we've spoken to in Russia," Bartlestein said. "There are a number of high-level teams that are pursuing him."
No comments:
Post a Comment