The rumors surrounding Kobe Bryant’s potential venture to Italy have been swirling, and now there is a new wrinkle in the negotiations that hadn’t previously been discussed.
The latest discussions between the two sides involve Bryant playing in three exhibition games for Virtus Bologna, and the action would be entitled the “Kobe Cup.”
Seriously.
Here are the details from Emilio Carchia of Sportando.net:
Claudio Sabatini and Rob Pelinka are still working silently to bring Kobe Bryant to Italy during the NBA lockout. The last idea is to organize three exhibition tournaments in Bologna, Roma and Milano with three teams for any stage. All the games would last 24 minutes with two quarters by 12′. Sabatini wants to involve also a foreign team because his idea is to sell the TV rights also abroad. The winner of the mini-tournament will lift the prestigious Kobe Cup.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Sabatini, the owner of Virtus Bologna, has thoroughly embarrassed both himself and his team by being so vocal in the negotiating process throughout the entire ordeal, and he’s said that the parties have been “very close” to a deal on several occasions.
Obviously, the phrase has lost meaning considering the fact that Bryant appears no closer to landing in Italy than he was when all of these discussions began.
At this point, it’s become laughable that there are even updates on the situation considering that Sabatini had previously said that he was going to stop making public remarks about everything until it was resolved, but the information continues to flow out regularly.
There is obvious appeal for Bryant to play in Italy after he spent a great portion of his childhood there, but Pelinka is going to be extraordinarily careful in any possible deal that he works out for his client.
Let’s just call the possibility remote until we hear otherwise.