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Tue 9/20/2011 
Kobe Bryant to Play for Virtus Bologna  for $600,000 per game? 

With the NBA in a strike/lockout mode, in the interim, Star Players are looking to play for European teams, LA Laker's Kobe Bryant is being pursued by  Virtus Bologna, San Antonio's Spurs guard Manu Ginobli is also on Virtus Bologna's wish list  Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, has reached a deal to play for Olimpia Milano. The only stumbling block is Insurance vs Injury , The Lakers are slated to pay Bryant  $25,244,000 next season, which works out to $307,854 per game over an 82-game regular season. 

Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the youngest of three children and the only son of former Philadelphia 76ers player  Joe "Jellybean" Bryant.  When Bryant was six, his father left the NBA and moved his family to Italy to continue playing professional basketball.Bryant became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak Italian and Spanish fluently. During summers, Bryant would come back to the United States to play in a basketball summer league.His favorite team growing up was the Lakers. Bryant's grandfather would mail him videos of NBA games, which Bryant would study. At an early age he also learned to play soccer; his favorite team is AC Milan. He has said that if he had stayed in Italy, he would have tried to become a professional soccer player. Upon Joe Bryant's retirement from playing basketball in 1991,the Bryant family moved back to the United States,when Kobe was 13 years, after 7 years in Italy. 

Bryant earned national recognition during a spectacular high school career at Lower Merion High School located in a Philadelphia suburb. and, skipped college ball, and went prep to pro and was chosen as the 13th overall draft pick by the LA Lakers in 1996, He has since become a Living Legend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant


Italian Team Owner Offers Kobe Bryant $600,000 Per Game
Sporting News, September 20, 2011

Kobe Bryant has been offered $800,000 per game before taxes, or about $600,000 net, to play for Virtus Bologna, the Italian club?s owner, Claudio Sabatini said, per a report on Italian-language site Bologna Basket. The offer is through Nov. 13 and for home games only. Bologna has three home games scheduled through that date. 

Bryant is slated to make $25,244,000 with the Lakers next season, according to Hoopshype, which works out to $307,854 per game over an 82-game regular season.

Insurance could be an issue for Kobe Bryant. 
Sabatini has previously stated that he?s pursuing Bryant, but there was no indication as to the specific amount of money he was willing to pay in order to sign him. 

Sabatini did say he was looking into insurance against potential injury to Bryant, and that if an away opponent is not willing to share the cost of the insurance, he would not allow Bryant to play in those road games. 

?I am studying a new solution to pay his insurance game-by-game",  he said. "When we play away, if our opponent is not willing to share the (cost for) the game, I won't pay the insurance for the player and I will keep him in Bologna" 

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili is also on Virtus Bologna?s wish list, Sabatini has said. 

Meanwhile, Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, who is Italian, has reached a deal to play for Olimpia Milano until the end of the NBA lockout, according to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sportando.net). There?s an out clause in Gallinari?s deal allowing him to return to the Nuggets once the NBA is back in action. 

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