Bostjan Nachbar became the latest NBAer to gladly accept the boatloads of Euros that teams across the pond are willing to throw at players. Nachbar, as you might imagine, couldn’t believe how much those Russians were willing to pay him was overjoyed by the prospect of playing back on his home continent.
Nachbar is getting three years at $14.3 million, but he estimates it’s more like three years for $30 million due to exchange rates and tax implications.
“For starters, here you lose half to taxes,” he said. “I’m happy with this deal, extremely happy. It’s a once in a lifetime deal,” Nachbar said. “I just couldn’t turn it down even though I always wanted to stay in the NBA and I wanted to remain with New Jersey.”
Nachbar, aside from being loved by seemingly every reporter working the Nets beat and one of the truly underrated dunkers in the NBA, averaged 9.8 points and 3.5 boards last season for New Jersey.
With ballplayers now happily swimming in Euros, David Stern has got to be starting to feel a little bit nervous, doesn’t he? It’ll certainly be interesting to see his reaction once an All-Star caliber player jets for the greener pastures of Europe – a possibility that’s becoming more and more likely by the day.
