Italian Team Offering Kobe Bryant $6.7 Million Deal


Italy’s Virtus Bologna says it’s been in touch with Kobe’s reps, trying to get them to accept a $6.7 million, one-year deal in the event of a lengthy NBA lockout. Per the AP: “Kobe Bryant has been offered a $6.7 million, one-season contract to play for the Italian team Virtus Bologna, appealing to his childhood memories of growing up in the country. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar spent part of his youth in Italy while his father played there. He speaks Italian, prompting Bologna to hope he might return if there’s an NBA lockout. Virtus Bologna general manager Massimo Faraoni tells The Associated Press he’s been on conference calls between Bryant’s agent, Rob Pelinka, Bologna president Claudio Sabatini and main sponsor Canadian Solar, which would provide the cash for such a deal. ‘I think the fact that he’s lived in Italy makes this appealing to him,’ Faraoni said. Virtus has given Bryant four different contract options, stretching from the one-year deal to two-month and one-month options, and a per-game deal that would come out to $739,640 per home game. All of the offers are pretax and would allow Bryant to return to the Lakers immediately if the lockout ends.”