http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=NBA-Notes-080719After one season of great financial sacrifice to try to make it with the Grizzlies in Memphis, Spain's Juan Carlos Navarro couldn't say no to a lucrative return to Europe with his old friends at Spanish giant Barcelona. Argentina's Carlos Delfino followed suit this week, leaving the Toronto Raptors not for the return to the Detroit Pistons that he was offered, but for a fat contract from Khimki BC in Russia.
Sources say Delfino will be earning nearly 3 million euros annually -- tax free, of course -- with his new club. One expert on the matter says that equates to an NBA salary of more than $9 million when you factor in the exchange rate and the tax money Delfino won't have to give back.
At no time since his arrival on these shores in 2004, obviously, has Delfino been anything close to a $9 million player in the NBA.
Khimki is also trying to sign Delfino's former Toronto teammate, Jorge Garbajosa, who is fresh off securing his release from the Raptors last month after an interminable contract wrangle stemming from a serious leg injury. But Garbajosa is expected to accept a similarly healthy compensation package from his hometown club in Spain, Unicaja Malaga, despite interest from the San Antonio Spurs.
The overseas gold rush is such these days that Pops Mensah-Bonsu -- still trying to establish himself in the league after a brief stint with the Mavericks in 2006-07 -- was this week offered an estimated 850,000 euros to play in Spain for DKV Joventut. Which is probably too much cash for someone like Mensah-Bonsu to surrender, even if he lands a minimum-wage guaranteed contract in the NBA this season.
After reading this article and coming across another thread that speaks of how Josh Childress is considering a $20 million dollar offer from a team is Greece, i was reminded of what we've been seeing in hockey these days. Obviously the NBA and most of its owners are much more financially sound as compared to their NHL counterparts, but, as our economy continues on a downward slope, could the NBA have a serious problem on their hands?
Sure, players from the US who have a tough time finding work have always had a haven in Euro-ball, but Josh Childress is an emerging star. And these multi-million dollar contract offers to players like Carlos Delfino are very disturbing. Although it seems like European born players are more likely to consider and accept these Euro team offers, just the thought of Josh Childress even in this conversation scares me.
So what are the implications of all this? Does Stern make reactionary policies? Does he push the idea of European NBA teams even harder? How can teams, working under a cap, possibly compete with these obscene salary offerings from Euro teams?
Topic: State of the game: Euro-dilemma (Read 1584 times)