Boykins Signs Contract In Italy

[BigDirty]

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Unrestricted free agent Earl Boykins signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal Tuesday to play with Virtus Bologna of the Italian league, the latest NBA player to a sign a deal with an overseas club.

Andy Bountogianis of the Cleveland-based Mark Termini Associates Inc. sports agency, confirmed the signing.

The 32-year-old point guard will be the highest-paid player in Italy for the 2008-09 season. He also will participate in the sponsorship and marketing income of the team.

The 5-foot-5 Boykins, who played at Eastern Michigan, has been in the NBA for 10 years, and averaged 9.4 points. He played for the Charlotte Bobcats last season and has also played for the New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks.

On Monday, Carlos Arroyo, who played for Orlando the last two seasons, announced that he has signed a one-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv, an Israeli club. Josh Childress announced last month that he was leaving the Atlanta Hawks for Greek club Olympiakos.

Also last month, Nenad Kerstic left the Nets and Carlos Delfino and Jorge Garbajosa left the Toronto Raptors to sign with a Russian team.

In June, Juan Carlos Navarro rejoined FC Barcelona after a one-season stint with the Memphis Grizzlies.

[Swish]

And is anyone surprised?

[mattlanta]

Well, Boykins kind of sucks... and he's way past the prime of his career. He must of only been signed mainly because of his size. No, really... I doubt they've seen anyone as good as Boykins in Europe in the size of 5'5". Why else would they want to sign him when he only averaged 5.1 PPG and 2.7 APG?

[BigDirty]

Maybe they think he had a down year, because he scored 15 the year before. Plus he joined the Bobcats midseason, so they might think that's the main reason he played so bad.