NBA Commissioner David Stern is confident that his best players will remain in the league and not jump to Europe.

Stern wants to hold regular season games overseas but isn't worried that his stars will stay there.

"To the extent that we're asked the question, 'what about a regular-season game?' we decided, 'OK, with the lead-up to the Olympics, we'll pop a regular-season game or two or more'; I don't know exactly how many, over there by the 2012 Olympics," the commissioner said Thursday during his annual preseason conference call.

He downplayed the concern that more players will follow the route of Josh Childress, who signed a three-year deal worth $20 million with the Greek club Olympiakos.

"I guess if they want to induce NBA players at salaries that exceed the budget of the team to play in games that 1,000 to 5,000 people will go to, they're free to do that, and there will be one or two players that will benefit greatly from it," said Stern.

"And it's good if you're a player to know that that option exists," he added.