While the prospects of a normal tipoff to the National Basketball Association season continue to slip away, league stars are still being pursued. Rumors have swirled all summer around the possibility of Los Angeles Lakers star forward Kobe Bryant traveling east to an Italian League team, Virtus Bologna and it now appears the club has put the talks into fast forward. The Italian club has offered Bryant between $1 million and $2 million dollars to play in just one exhibition game according to various Italian reports quoted by ESPN.
Several league superstars have openly flirted with the idea of playing abroad through the media such as Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay. Bryant’s childhood link to Italy—where he lived while his father played Italian basketball—makes him a natural candidate to return but to snag a marquee name like of Bryant apparently requires a lot more work, and patience.
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