Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade Blake Griffin among NBA stars all set for an extravagant world tour
While the NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association have refused to converge to a solution for the labour dispute, many of the biggest NBA stars are planning a barnstorming tour.
Since the NBA lockout began, players have been busy playing in charity events, pro-am games and exhibition tours and now they have planned one to top it all.
Atlanta business mogul Calvin Darden is the man behind the tour and he has been working for over 3 months with the agents of many different super stars. With league set to lose more games, the dates for the tour have now been finalized. The extravaganza will begin on October 30th and end on November 9.
Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, Miami Heat super star Dwyane Wade and his teammate Chris Bosh, Los Angeles Clippers hotshot Blake Griffin and the Boston Celtics duo of Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce have already been signed contracts for the event and more are expected to follow.
Other players who have agreed but have not signed the dotted line yet include Miami Heat super star LeBron James, the NBA reigning Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose, New York Knicks stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook, Carlos Boozer of the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves talisman Kevin Love.
According to a source familiar with the situation of Tyson Chandler, the Dallas Mavericks NBA World Championship winning centre is also on board. Legendary Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett and two-times NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant could also make the final cut.
Clippers man Griffin is a doubt at the moment because of a foot injury that will keep him out the Oklahoma City exhibition game on Sunday, but his agent is confident the player would have completely recovered by the time the tour begins.
Calvin Darden is hoping to secure the sign of rest of the players soon and is also working on completing insurance requirements. He has planned to take the players on a world tour that will include games in Puerto Rico, London, Macau, and Australia, with Australia and London scheduled to host more than one game.
The games will take place in arenas with a capacity of more than 15,000 and Darden is hoping to broadcast them around the world, including the United States of America. The players are set to receive sums close to $1 million each while some of the money raised from the event will go to charity.
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