According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Denver Nuggets have signed Josh Childress to a non-guaranteed, one-year deal.
Childress has had an interesting professional basketball career. He was a standout player at Stanford and the 6th overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. His NBA career began fairly promising with the Atlanta Hawks where he averaged double-figure points and over five rebounds per game as the 6th man. In 2008, he left the NBA and signed a very lucrative contract to play for Olympiacos in Greece. His $20 million annual contract with Olympiacos was equivalent to a $38 million contract in the NBA thanks to tax breaks he received for playing in Greece.
He returned to the NBA in 2010 with the Phoenix Suns but in two seasons, didn’t play more than 17 minutes per game. Since then he’s played in Australia, Japan, the D-League and most recently in the Big3 league with the Ball Hogs. He is 34 years old.
At 6’8”, Childress is a lengthy wing slasher with an average outside shot. He is a good cutter and defender and could fill a niche for the Nuggets playing off of Nikola Jokic and guarding the perimeter. However, the non-guaranteed deal almost certainly indicates that he will be a training camp invitee and nothing more. Still, with Denver so thin at length on the wing, Childress could prove himself useful with a stellar training camp.
Training camp begins in 13 days.
