Kobe has lot to gain on European tour
Kobe Bryant(notes) could tell these European teams to stop the public posturing, the leaking of salary offers, and somehow he never does. He doesn't mind this dance, because it benefits him just like it does them. From Turkey to Italy, the suitors for the globe's most popular player have gone to incredible lengths to make sure they never cut a deal with Bryant.
Nothing will get done so publicly with him. It never does. Of course, this is the perfect dance for a superstar selling shoes overseas, a regenerating news cycle about how Bryant's considering an offer to come play in a town near you. Bryant gets a push on his Nike tour of Europe, and the owners and general managers of Italy's Bologna Virtus and Turkey's Besiktas get the publicity of the courtship, the credibility of Bryant's willingness to listen.
Before the Chinese Basketball Association banned the use of NBA players under contract, Bryant had gone deep into talks with teams, including outlining private travel perks and a $2 million-plus monthly salary that he would've wanted to play there. Those talks stayed quieter because of the private nature of Chinese organizations. Yet as Bryant traveled Asia peddling product, those fans believed maybe they could get him, too.
Yes, these overseas offers are using Bryant, and Bryant's using them. This week, he pitches his shoes on a European tour that makes stops in Rome and Istanbul reach even more feverish pitches. This isn't so much a grand strategy out of Bryant as it's a convenient byproduct of circumstance.
The GM of Virtus Bologna is publicly calling for Bryant to return to his teenage roots, leaking his offers of $5 million per season or $700,000 per game. If Virtus Bologna thinks that telling the world that Bryant is asking for an outrageous $15 million contract for the season is the way to lure him, well, they're probably more interested in the spectacle than the signing.
[Related: Italian team offers Kobe Bryant $5 million for season]
Bryant has been more than intrigued with playing overseas because he knows that it could be a boon to his international branding. He loves to play, loves to make money, and that's why he'll probably accept one of these offers if the NBA season gets canceled.
There were reasons sentimental and business-wise for Bryant to take deals in Italy (his childhood home), Turkey (his endorsement deal with Turkish Air) and China (the shoe market), and that makes the storylines intriguing. For the NBA Players Association, the bidding on Bryant has been beneficial. It reminds owners of the NBA's star power, its global reach. It does so much more than superstars reducing themselves to a series of public shirts-and-skins pick-up games in college gyms.
Bryant is older, 33 years now, and he doesn't run around with his rivals playing pick-up games. Most of the NBA's thirtysomething stars have shown little inclination to do that this summer, mostly leaving it to the next generation of players who are still chasing rings. Bryant has his old trainer, Tim Grover, traveling a lot with him this summer, preferring to grind it out in private. After a procedure in Germany in June, Bryant's troublesome knee has made excellent progress, but nothing is ever truly known until the pounding of the season returns.
For now, Bryant keeps listening to the overtures and listening closely to his teammate, Derek Fisher(notes), from the labor meetings. The fact Bryant hasn't signed a deal overseas suggests he believes there's still real hope for a shortened NBA season – that it isn't worth starting something that he can't finish there.
For now, those Euro teams will keep making big noise as they court Bryant, and that works out for him, too. All across the world, they think, just maybe we have a shot to sign Kobe. And in the end, that does something there that this numbing labor stoppage hasn't done here: Keep fans engaged, keep the NBA's most important stars still bigger than ever.
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