OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 8:00 p.m. ET July 9, 2009

Sean Deveney

Last summer, it seemed that Josh Childress entirely tipped the balance of the league's restricted free agency process. According to those rules, an NBA team has the right to match any offer made to its own restricted free agents. That team has a seven-day window in which to decide whether to match the offer.

While fellow restricteds like Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor and Luol Deng eventually got paid, it wasn't clear that Childress was going to get an offer from the Hawks, and other teams were afraid to make a deal with Childress because, for one thing, there wasn't much cap space available. And, for another, teams feared that the offer would be matched.

So Childress got creative. He signed a deal with Olympiacos that pays him, including expenses, about $10 million per year for three years. It was believed that the contract opened a new front for restricted free agents, giving them the option of bolting the NBA for European riches. Then, of course, the worldwide economy collapsed, and these days, no one is threatening to head overseas.

Make no mistake, Childress is still an NBA player and would like to get himself back in the league. He is still a restricted free agent, though, his rights still owned by the Hawks. This summer, though, that hasn't kept teams from poking around Childress. According to a source, there has been healthy interest in bringing Childress back from Greece.

There are as many as four teams interested in signing Childress, though one is believed to be Cleveland, and should the Cavs opt for Anthony Parker, Childress would have three suitors. If Childress were willing to sign for the midlevel exception, $5.8 million, he would have no problem getting a contract. He has no buyout with his Greek team, and can leave that contract to sign in the NBA whenever he pleases. But if he takes a midlevel deal, he would be sacrificing more than $4 million on the $10 million he could make in Greece this year.

The Hawks could make things easier by accepting a sign-and-trade deal for Childress, which would allow him to sign for more than the midlevel. A source tells Sporting News that the Hawks have indicated they would be willing to do that provided they got the right package in return. But even in a sign-and-trade, Childress will not get a deal that starts at $10 million.

Either way, Childress figures to have a tough choice. He went to Europe with the intent of eventually coming back to the NBA, preferably sooner rather than later. But if he wants to come back now, he will have to give up a significant amount of money in restricted free agency.

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