don't think this is a repost (saw the lebron one) but if it is just delete.

i don't follow the NBA like I used to but it certainly seems like things are changng quickly. This does nto sound good for the future of the NBA.

BEIJING � Kobe Bryant won�t sign a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers until he has tested the global market, the U.S. Olympic basketball star told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday.

Asked whether he plans to solicit overseas offers before signing an extension, Bryant flatly said yes.

It�s possible Bryant could leave the NBA for Europe � perhaps in a dual role of owner and player � as early as next summer. Bryant is signed with the Lakers through the 2010-11 season, but can opt out after next season.

Suddenly, the best player in the world seems determined to pair the changing global economics with his unparalleled popularity to create an international bidding war. A day earlier, Bryant told the Boston Globe that he would consider a $50 million offer to play in Europe.

�As players, the business of the game (is) evolving,� Bryant said before a Team USA practice at Beijing Normal University. �I think free agency now is becoming a global thing �. When players become free agents, the team they�re currently with � their competition is no longer the rest of the teams in the NBA. But it�s global. So, the market�s opened up. So we�ll just have to see how the league responds to it.�

Bryant spent several years of his childhood in Italy and loves it there. Seven years ago, he bought an ownership stake in Olimpia Milano of the Italian league for his father Joe to run. When Bryant was asked whether he held intrigue with owning and playing on a team together, he said, �Absolutely.�

Some basketball executives believe Bryant�s ultimate ambition might be to have a majority ownership with a powerhouse Italian team while serving as its superstar. What�s more, Bryant, 29, insists that it wouldn�t be such a leap of faith for him to leave the NBA.

�I think people kind of make it out to be a little more than what it is,� he said.

With the Lakers� resurgence and Bryant having won his first most valuable player award last season, it was believed that he would sign a long-term, maximum contract without pursuing unrestricted free agency. Now, Bryant is suggesting that the possibility of a monumental European offer � perhaps paired with ownership � has armed him with fresh leverage.

This summer, the movement of players to Europe � as well as a belief that several European teams are gearing up to lure NBA superstars with contracts worth $30- to $40 million annually � has made him believe that this could be an option for him. Josh Childress of the Atlanta Hawks signed a three-year, $20 million deal with Olympiakos of Greece. Several other good NBA players, including Carlos Delfino and Juan Carlos Navarro, left the NBA for multi-million dollar European offers.

�Childress, Delfino, and all these other offers start coming up and all of a sudden you start hearing the talk circulating from teams over there and what they�re willing to do,� Bryant said. �As athletes, you have to listen to that. That�s the least you can do.�

Even so, Bryant conceded that it would be �Almost impossible � very difficult �� to leave the Lakers, who are primed to make a run at multiple championships over the next several years.

�But,� he said cryptically, �it is what it is.�

I don't think Kobe would leave but I think it's a better chance thaan lebron since I belieeve his dad played there. I think if any bigtime star plays euroball it will be dirk pena ginonbbli or some other former euro star

I hope they all leave.......the NBA is a joke....

Bye.

The NBA is a joke. I could see Kobe leaving. He enjoyed living overseas...He will get paid more...He already has NBA rings (although none without you know who)...
Why should he stay?

 

Originally Posted by FirstDown

He should stay because his wife and kids would like to see him more than once per year. His millions of fans in Los Angeles probably don't get any foreign channels besides Telemundo. And he wants to be like Mike.

Obv that the wife and kids would go...as was the case when Kobe went to Europe with his pops...

He really doesn't care about L.A...Who would? Horrible sports town...Until this year he was blamed for running Shaq out of town. He almost left LA.

Well, he will have a big audience overseas.

He will never be like Mike (too many personality and intangible differences)...but he can be "Kobe" overseas...

Euro is + EV over the American Dollar.

ibarrio got it with his last part.

A lot of this will depend on the performance of the dollar. It's rebounding lately but if you start to have a 2 dollar = 1 Euro situation, it becomes a different story.

Last Christmas, europeans were travelling here to do Christmas shopping and they'r evacationing here more because it's so cheap. same will go for our NBA players

statements like this are an attack on the nba salary cap

that is the goal that kobe, lebron et al are shooting for

by saying they can make huge money in europe, they force the nba to consider loosening the cap

kobe is fixated on his place in history i would be surprised if he left bc then his achievements are harder to gauge

$7 Million per year is a lot for Childress, who wants an over the hill Kobe for $50 Million per?

I doubt if he would leave but if he did i cant blame him. I would leave for 50 million.

David Beckham is not getting paid $50 Million per year Salary. That was proven to be a false rumor when he was in the process of signing in the USA.

But srsly, this is all a big joke, no star players are going to play in Europe.

 

Originally Posted by FirstDown

But srsly, this is all a big joke, no star players are going to play in Europe.

Thats what Gary Bettman said.

before Jaromir Jagr, and Alexander Radulov left and Malkin was offered 20m.

FYI, the owners of the Greece team are billionaires many times over...
Your going see more high schoolers going to Euro rather then college. Someone on the radio was discussing this the other day.

I really don't get why people say they won't get huge sums to go play over there.

Why can't some European owner plop down 40 million a year for a contract. The dollar is weak my friends. And it's not like they don't have endorsements in Europe. they even have indoor plumbing and electricity.

Sounds like someone has a deep issue with Floyd Mayweather... yikes.

Anyway, no one will get $50 Million, no owner will sign Kobe to a multi-year deal at 31+ years of age, and no one in the USA cares enough about hockey to keep those russian players here. If Tony Romo goes to the Canadian Football League, then we have problems.