By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
One day after the release of Dionte Christmas by CSKA Moscow, Eurohoops reported the interest of Valencia and on Sunday revealed that the player was pressured to give an answer to Valencia this week. The deadline ends today (27/2) and the American guard at this point has to answer with a yes or a no.
What was not known until now is that one more European team is trying to lure the player and this team is the Adriatic league leader Igokea. Christmas hasn’t decided yet what to do, because if he sign with Valencia he will not have the right to play in Eurocup, but only in Liga Endesa. Igokea has put a good offer on the table and Christmas is expected to announce his final decision by the end of the day.
The most possible scenario for him is to sign with Valencia, Igokea is also trying to convince him and there is also the third option for him not to sign in any European team in order to wait for a call up from the NBA, even for a short term deal. This would be the most risky choice, since in any contract that he will sign in Europe, he will have an NBA opt out for this summer. Christmas is also going to be compensated by CSKA Moscow, since he had a 1+1 contract with the Russians, and this financial detail may also play its part in his decision.