"From Athens to Milwaukee and back to Atlanta, the name Josh Childress is being tossed around in every direction these days.

Childress is in Milwaukee today visiting the Bucks with his agent, Jim Tanner.

What that means for the Hawks is that they might get a do-over with Childress, a restricted free agent again this summer as he was last summer.

Last summer they lost him as an asset when he chose to sign with Greek power Olympiakos (for $20 million post taxes). What the Hawks didn't lose was the right of first refusal on Childress if he decided to return to the NBA this summer.

And two of my spies have made it clear that were Childress to receive any sort of "reasonable" NBA offer (the $5.8 million mid-level exception or below), the Hawks would match it before Childress finished signing his name on the offer sheet (the aim, however, is to work out a sign-and-trade deal to appease both sides since Childress has made clear his desire to play elsewhere, per a source).

Still, no player on the free agent market has more intriguing options than Childress. He has until July 15 to decide if he wants to return to the NBA (he'd have to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract with Olympiakos). So he has a window now that allows him to gauge his current value around the NBA while also holding on to the safety net that is his lucrative contract with Olympiakos.

Childress was in Atlanta last Sunday to meet with the Hawks' brass and made clear that he would do his due diligence in evaluating his NBA options before deciding whether to return to Greece or not. It's smart business yet again on the part of Childress, who had drawn interest from a number of other teams (Lakers, Clippers, Cavaliers and Spurs are included in that list, according to my league spies) curious to explore the potential of him making an return to the league now as opposed to at the end of his contract with Olympiakos."