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July 23, 2008
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Childress Leaving Hawks To Play in Greece

The deal is the richest in Euroleague history, and will leave the Hawks without their sixth man.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - The Atlanta Hawks have reportedly lost the services of swingman Josh Childress to the Greek franchise Olympiakos.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that Childress, 25, turned down a five-year, $33 million offer from the Hawks to sign a three-year deal overseas. The paper did not have the exact terms of the deal, but did say that it is worth much more than the $20 million that was initially reported.

The deal is the richest in Euroleague history, according to the paper, and will leave the Hawks without their sixth man. The Stanford product averaged 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 29.9 minutes per game for the Hawks last season, and has averages of 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in four seasons with the club.

Childress was a restricted free agent, which gave the Hawks the right to match any contract offer by another NBA team, but has no such guarantees with contract offers from other leagues. There is no salary cap for European teams.

According to the paper Childress, drafted sixth overall by the Hawks in 2004, has the right to opt out after each year of his deal, allowing him to leave and return to the NBA.

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