Fanball announced Friday the availability of SnapDraft, which cuts fantasy seasons down into daily or weekly salary-cap contests.

The football version, available now and for the rest of the year, allows participants to join leagues of two, three, four, five or 10 teams, select a roster of players to fit under a $27 million salary cap and compete for money. Users can decide whether each contest will cost $1, $2, $3, $5 or $10 per team, with 80 percent of league entry fees going to the winner.

The game appears to be similar in style to the one rolled out by Fantazzle earlier this year.

Fanball plans to debut the basketball version in the coming week, and the home page for the contest carries headings for baseball and hockey as well. No plan has been announced for either sport.

The bottom of that page also displays the logos of NBC Sports and Rotoworld, which both live under the same NBC Universal roof. A Fanball spokesman declined Saturday to say what connection, if any, Fanball and NBC have on SnapDraft.

There has long been a pipeline funneling talented European basketball players into the NBA. Some recent evidence suggests that the flow could slow and even reverse in some spots.

Former University of Arizona point guard recruit Brandon Jennings’ decision to forgo an American college career for a European contract in the year the NBA requires him to take before entering the draft created a minor stir earlier this year. Of more direct import to the league, however, was Josh Childress’ signing of a three-year, $20 million contract (after taxes) to play in Greece.

The former Atlanta Hawks forward chose the Greek contract over re-signing with his NBA franchise as a restricted free agent after growing frustrated with how slowly negotiations were moving. Since his departure, Earl Boykins, Carlos Arroyo, Nenad Krstic, Carlos Delfino and Jorge Garbajosa have followed. None is a big name, but beating of the path has drawn attention.

It’s gotten to the point that ESPN reports LeBron James could consider heading across the Atlantic for something like $50 million a year once his Cleveland contract expires in 2010. Kobe Bryant, in addition, has said it’ll take a mere $40 million annually to lure him away.

Obviously, such defections are merely and highly hypothetical. Most of the players to leave this summer have not been huge names, and Childress could be an isolated case of a disgruntled athlete finding a way out of a negative situation. For all we know, Childress could be back in the States next year with a deal to his liking. He did retain the right to leave his Greek team at the end of any season without charge.

Worry is created, however, by the pressure and limitations put on NBA teams by the league’s salary cap and accompanying luxury tax. At a certain payroll point, any team has to begin paying a dollar-by-dollar tax on any player salary given out. European clubs have no such parameters on their spending and could be capable of offering more money, especially with the weakened dollar. As of Thursday morning, one euro equaled $1.54.

One problem with European contracts could be that the lack of a player’s union or collective bargaining agreement challenges the guarantees of the payouts, though contract language and litigation could address that issue.

From a fantasy standpoint, beyond the obvious impact of losing NBA talent overseas, increased movement from North America to Europe could raise the possibility of fantasy basketball games targeting the European leagues. The inclusion of pros in the Olympics and the greater attention paid to foreign players in the draft in recent years has already raised awareness stateside of the European game.

Any developments on these fronts could still be way off, or they might never even arrive. Nevertheless, the situation bears watching over the next couple of years.