Ben Gordon Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are known to not pay a premium after a basketball player proves himself on and off the court.  Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon won’t sign the club’s one year qualifying offer of $6.4 million, setting the stage for a possible departure from the team, The Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

It was no surprise that Ben Gordon turned down a five-year, $50 extension last summer.  Gordon is believed to be seeking about $72 million, which would put the club into luxury tax range.

That sounds like a lot of money for a player to make, but let’s be honest, he is one of the best NBA guards in the league.  You can also comfortably say that the global interest and corporate sponsorship in the NBA is at an all time high, which means market conditions could not be better for Ben Gordon.

So where will Ben Gordon play next year?  Maybe Josh Childress and Brandon Jennings are in his fave 5, or maybe he’s following the NBA slogan, “Basketball without Borders” as he explores the European basketball lifestyle, or maybe he stays close to home.

One thing is for sure, Ben Gordon deserves to be paid fair market value for his services.

Josh Childress

Josh Childress aka JChill signed a 20 Million dollar contract to play pro basketball for Olympiacos next season.  Childress is by far the most well paid basketball player in Europe and his transaction considered to be one of the biggest in European basketball history.

The NBA superstar was in Greece during the last three days in order to speak with Aggelopoulos family as well as with coach Giannakis who make him feel very comfortable and secure about his future in Greece.

Josh Childress will be a great addition to Olympiacos.  He has already found his new house in Athens, near Peace and Friendship Stadium and hw will travel back to the States in order to fix the last details for his new life in Greece.

The former Stanford Cardinal and Atlanta Hawks baller asked for three Euroleague balls to practice by himself and try to get used to the differences with the basketballs that are being used in the NBA. Josh will be back at the end of August for the beginning of Olympiakos preparation for the next season.