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Until now, Josh Childress basically was a financial hostage of the Atlanta Hawks. We tend not to discuss sports business that way, because it would be a real downer to call drafts and salary caps what they really are — restraint of trade and price-fixing. Besides, it's hard to get indignant on behalf of someone like Childress, whose price was fixed at $3.6 million last season. But as a restricted free agent, he had virtually nowhere to go this summer, whether for more money or refuge from a club that, despite its shocking playoff performance against the Celtics, is not the ideal location for Childress. Most teams lack enough room under the salary cap to bid for him, and the loopholes in the system have constricted to the point that only Atlanta realistically can be expected to give Childress an improved contract.

So now he is either playing an elaborate game of chicken with the Hawks, who made him the No. 6 draft pick in 2004, or eagerly learning how to say "pick and roll" in Greek. It doesn't really matter which, because Childress' threat has enough credibility to serve as a warning shot throughout the NBA. After years of nabbing great foreign players, from Yao Ming to Dirk Nowitzki, the league has to see that the trend could work in reverse. That's not to say that Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant will be decamping for Europe. But now that Euroleague is flush with cash and the dollar has turned frail, it's not unreasonable to think that a young Spanish player such as Pau Gasol might want to finish his career near home. Some coveted international players already have snubbed the NBA in favor of Euroleague. Argentina's Carlos Delfino left the Raptors to join a Russian club, and Spain's Tiago Splitter - whose name alone is priceless - declined the honor of being the Spurs' first-round pick last year.

Until now, Americans didn't go to Europe unless they struggled to find stable employment in the NBA. The experience was often enlightening, but it also could be exasperating. One former player told me that his European team provided housing and utilities, and after he played poorly, he found his heat mysteriously cut off. But as the cash and perks have increased, more players have been tempted, or at least tried to use the cash and perks overseas to shake down their teams here. Childress, though, would be the first big catch from the U.S. An established American pro, with a Stanford education and a grasp of team play that is often missing in the NBA, he could be a billboard for Euroleague.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle