Vitrus Bologna Working on One-Game Deal with Kobe Bryant

Sometimes in life our reach can exceed our grasp. That would appear to be the case for Claudio Sabatini. The outspoken owner of Virtus Bologna has not been shy about letting the hoops world know of his desire to bring quasi-native son Kobe Bryant back to Italy during the NBA lockout.

Sabatini went as far as to approach the Italian league with a request to manipulate the season schedule in order to maximize Bryant’s time in Italy as a member of Virtus Bologna.

Now it would appear Sabatini has taken a step back in his wrangling of Bryant. Today Sabatini is claiming that he’s negotiated a network deal and has secured sponsorship for a one-game, $2-million deal for Bryant’s services.

While the one game fee of 2 big bills is very nice money for Kobe is a far cry from the number of games Sabatini was originally shooting for. However it would set quite a precedent.

That $2-million per game figure is much more than what Kobe collects in the NBA. Now there is no way Virtus Bologna could even consider keeping Kobe for an extended period at that rate. Not with the world’s most profitable basketball league currently wading through labor strife with player pay at the forefront.

However this does set quite a standard for any other European club that might consider approaching another marquee NBA name.