It won’t be long until Josh Childress(notes) has turned into one of the hottest free agents on the market. After leaving the Atlanta Hawks to play two seasons in Greece, Childress is a restricted free agent who no longer has to worry about his team matching an offer sheet. The Hawks are close to investing $119 million over six seasons with Johnson, and the value of small forwards on the market is rising with re-signings like Rudy Gay(notes) in Memphis. As Atlanta closes its check book and elite small forwards don’t change in free agency, there’s a perfect storm starting to develop for Childress. A versatile 6-foot-8 forward, Childress could find himself courted by the Knicks, Nets and Clippers and multiple more teams. He could command as much as $7 million-$8 million annually in a contract. – Adrian Wojnarowski, 5:29 p.m. ET, July 1
