Kobe Bryant to Besiktas - The move is on again: NBA Update
Kobe Bryant’s Turkish saga took another turn today, after Seref Yalcin, the head of basketball operations at Besiktas, gave details of the transfer to a Turkish newspaper.
The move has been in the news for a long time now and taken many twists along the way. While the last bit of news seemed to suggest various issues in the deal, Yalcin’s bold statements seem to indicate otherwise.
The Los Angeles Lakers super star was believed to be interested in joining up with the club that has already secured New Jersey Nets point guard Deron Williams for next season. Williams will be paid $5 million for his services
by Besiktas, while his contract also has an escape clause that will allow him to get back to the Nets if the NBA lockout ends.
Kobe Bryant wants a similar deal, but much more money. It was stated in the press that Besiktas were willing to offer around $500,000 a month to the Lakers shooting guard but Kobe’s camp wanted around $ 1 million.
With Kobe leaving for a tour of China and then two exhibition games in the Philippines, the news lost its appeal and the saga was believed to be dead and buried, until now.
Yalcin has stated that there is a 50 percent chance that Kobe Bryant will join the club and that a meeting is scheduled in which things will become clearer,
“At the moment there’s a 50% chance that Kobe may come to Turkey. Everything will be clearer after the meeting on the 30th.”
Contrary to common belief, Yalcin revealed that though the club’s executives have been talking to the player, it has not been about money,
“We have not talked about money, as reported. We only talked about the possibility of Kobe playing in Turkey. We asked FIBA for approval and Kobe wants some time to think about it. We believe that his response is going to be positive.”
Kobe Bryant is a huge star and his appeal goes a long way in Turkey, where the player endorses Turkish Airlines for some big bags of cash. It had been suggested in some quarters that Besiktas had been talking to investors and sponsors
for funding Bryant’s salary, since their own bank accounts were reportedly frozen after the club was implicated in a football match fixing scandal.
Seref Yalcin didn’t make any mention of frozen bank accounts, but did confirm the sponsors part, claiming that finances are not an issue in the deal,
“Money will not be a problem. Turkish Airlines, M-Oil and Milan Petrol will sponsor the deal.”
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