And the beat goes on.  A day after Josh Childress set a huge precedent in where he chose to play with Greek club Olympiakos instead of the Atlanta Hawks, there are now reports that Dynamo Moscow has put an offer in front of Delonte West of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The contract is for two-years and $10 million dollars, much more enticing than the roughly one-year $2.7 million qualifying offer that is currently sitting in front of him.

The 6-4, 180lb West had just finished his first season in Cleveland and proved to be a valuable addition especially during the playoffs, where West hit a huge three-point shot with 5.4 seconds in game four of Cleveland’s first round matchup with the Washington Wizards and was invaluable against eventual NBA champs and former team Boston Celtics.

Though there were many teams around the league interested in Delonte, they were reportedly scared by his “restricted” status, assuming that the Cavs would match any offer they put in front of the 24-year old point guard (he turns 25 on Saturday).  And only a couple teams in the league could afford to pay him much more than the mid-level exception of $5.6 million.

In the past, NBA restricted free agents were limited by their options and  didn’t have any choice but to ride it out.  Luckily for players like Childress and Delonte, this is a different day and age.  European clubs are not only much more competitive on the court, but also with their checkbooks.

This is how Dynamo Moscow came into the picture.  The club based in Russia’s capital isn’t tied to any NBA salary cap rules, agent restrictions, qualifying offers, or mid-level exceptions, so they were able to offer Delonte West… well, anything.

This is just another example of how basketball’s globalization, along with the strength of the Euro, and the many NBA restrictions is spreading basketball talent across the globe.

So how likely is West to jump ship to Europe?  Tough to say, I definitely think that he is less likely than Josh Childress, whom I thought was very serious from the second I read the report.  However, Delonte West is one of those odd NBA players.  He is known for some of the weird things he says in interviews; and it’s obvious to NBA fans that he marches to the beat of his own drum… so, who knows?

Dynamo Moscow, the Russian club had already stolen another NBA player in Slovenian Bostjan Nachbar.  Boki skipped 2007 Eurobasket tournament and spent the offseason preparing for the 2007-08 NBA season, that’s how serious he wanted to succeed in the NBA.

He left the New Jersey Nets and signed a three-year, $14.3 million contract with Dyanmo.  Nachbar has a buyout clause in his contract that would allow the 28-year old to come back to the NBA after each season.

The 6-9 forward left the NBA partly because of New Jersey’s offseason acquisitions of Yi Jianlian, Bobby Simmons, Jarvis Hayes and Eduardo Najera – most of whom are players that Nachbar would have to fight for minutes this upcoming season.  And well, the money was just better from Europe.

Nachbar had some advice for the NBA concerning all the players leaving the NBA for Europe this offseason: “The NBA had better be careful.  European teams are offering a lot of money. It’s much more, considering there are no taxes, than what I would make signing for the mid-level exception.”

Links and Resources: Discuss Delonte West to Europe, Dynamo Moscow (Interbasket), Tag restricts West’s Market Value (The News-Herald), Josh Childress to Europe, Olympiakos (Interbasket), Josh Childress may leave NBA for Europe (Interbasket), Atlanta Hawk’s Josh Childress considering Olympiakos discussion (Interbasket), Basketball Globalization will break up NBA’s Monopoly (Interbasket), Nachbar headed to Russia (National Post)