Olympiakos wants Pargo now?

The flirtation between Stephon Marbury and the Greek club Olympiacos appeared to end Friday, with a new twist to the story blowing in from Moscow.

Olympiacos is pursuing former NBA guard Jannero Pargo, who was expected to secure his release from Dynamo Moscow before the end of the weekend, sources told ESPN.com. At least three NBA teams and two Euroleague teams were in the bidding for Pargo, whose value in Europe is actually higher than Marbury's because teams have already seen him play this season -- and because he can be signed to a contract before Euroleague final 16 rosters are due Monday and Tuesday.

There was no contact Thursday between Olympiacos and Marbury, a day after Olympiacos contacted the New York Knicks as part of its efforts to find a replacement for American Josh Childress.

The club's pursuit of Pargo was an indication that it had cooled to the idea of pursuing Marbury, at least until Pargo's new employer is determined.

Pargo signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with Dynamo last summer, but the club has struggled to make payroll and recently learned that it would not receive the subsidy it was expecting from the Russian military. Dynamo's financing problems also could impact the future of another of its big offseason signings, ex-Nets forward Bostjan Nachbar, who wants to return to the NBA

source : sports.espn.go.com

Note : There is a major financial recession to follow that will affect all the teams in Russia that have government funding as the government of Russian decide to stop all sponsoring of their basketball teams. The trend that will probably follow is a wave of contract dissolutions of the most expensive contracts that were signed this summer. This in effect will bring contract prices down all over Europe.