Kobe Bryant and Italian Club agree to $3M Deal

It’s pretty much a done deal that Kobe Bryant will play in Italy during the NBA lockout, but scheduling in the Italian league remains a hurdle. The NBA superstar for the Los Angeles Lakers would be paid $3 million for the opening 40 days of the season according to an Associated Press report on Friday.

“We have reached an economic deal,” Virtus president Claudio Sabatini told a local radio station. “There’s still some things to arrange, but at this point I’m very optimistic. I would say it’s 95 percent done.”

The deal should last about 10 games and would allow Bryant to return to the Lakers immediately if the lockout ends.Sabatini wants to create a special schedule that assigns Bryant’s games to Italy’s biggest arenas.

“This is an important investment and a unique chance for the city of Bologna and all of Italian basketball,” Sabatini said. “I’m hoping everyone wants to collaborate.”

Looks like that’s not going to be the case because of a couple of teams in the Italian league. It’s rumored that two teams Cremona and Varese were refusing to alter their schedules to accommodate Virtus and Bryant.

 

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