Earlier today I linked to a rumor from The Hoop that claimed Olympiakos was planning on offering Kobe Bryant a three-year, $60 million dollar contract loaded with incentives. I went back and forth a little bit before including the rumor in today’s Fundamentals because The Hoop openly questioned the validity of their source. But I decided to throw it in there because The Hoop is regularly cited by HoopsHype and the rumor didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.
Henry Abbot of ESPN and Matt Watson of FanHouse shot down the rumor this afternoon.
I agree with much of what Henry and Matt wrote. There are a couple of sites that took the rumor and ran with it. But The Hoop was clear in stating it “could be just another rumor in a long list of rumors that circulated around the net this summer.” It never stated that an offer has been made or insinuated that Kobe Bryant has started packing his bags.
Some rumors are right, some rumors are wrong. Peter Vescey claimed that Jamaal Tinsley had been traded to the Nuggets for Chuckie Atkins and Stephen Hunter. There are Euroleague owners with the financial resources to lure a superstar overseas. It would be naive to believe those owners haven’t had preliminary discussions about what it would take to sign a superstar of Kobe Bryant’s caliber. I don’t know if this particular rumor is accurate or not, and I’ll admit that it was sketchy, but given the skepticism with which it was reported, I felt it was worth linking to.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Kobe’s future plans: Bryant apparently has no intention of re-igniting talk of a jump to Europe in the near future. During the Beijing Olympics, he suggested that it’s not out of the question that he or another NBA superstar would take the money and run to Europe.
He then said at the start of training camp last month that he was only joking.
But with the billionaire owner of the Greek team Olympiacos on record as saying he intends to open an office in New York next summer in order to pursue NBA stars, Bryant and Cleveland’s LeBron James would seem like natural targets.
“Next question,” Bryant said when asked about it.
“Next question,” he said when pressed.
“Next question,” he said when a reporter tried a third time.
Bryant can opt out of his contract with the Lakers at season’s end.
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_10731811
October 16th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Dusty,
What are you trying to say?
Lol.
I don’t think Kobe will sign with a Euroleague team. But he might have four years ago.
October 28th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
the contract is really 83million olympiakos for life.