With all the doom and gloom surrounding the NBA lockout there is no shortage of players making plans to collect checks in other countries. Last week Kobe Bryant made headlines for a proposed tour of China his agent is trying to get together. Pau Gasol could be making a return to Spain and just yesterday it was announced Deron Williams has a deal in place with a Turkish team.
If you’re already got one NBA stud on the hook then why not try and reel in another?
That’s exactly what Ergin Ataman, head coach of Turkish club Besiktas, plans on doing.
"“After we signed Deron, we started to look around and find a friend of his, find other NBA stars, who want to come over and play with us. If Kobe wants to play with Deron in Istanbul, we can discuss this.”"
According to reports Kobe is considering other opportunities in Europe. Perhaps he’ll play in Italy just as an excuse to practice his Italian. Who really knows?
Those that know the sport of soccer know Besiktas as home to one of Turkey’s most successful football clubs. Those that follow Euro hoops know the basketball club as the most recent home of Allen Iverson.
As of now there is nothing to really talk about. However going forward if this lockout lingers it’s pretty much inevitable that there will be an invasion of NBA talent plundering jobs in Europe.