Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant terminates talks with Turkish team Besiktas: NBA Report
According to reports, the long-time negotiations between the Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant and Turkish sports club Besiktas have snapped off. Kobe and his agent Rob Pelinka had a meeting with the representatives of Besiktas in the preceding week, but the two parties failed to agree upon a financial deal for Black Mamba’s European move.
According to a source, the Turkish team fell short in offering Kobe a good deal and the shooting guard will not be joining New Jersey Nets All-Star point guard Deron Williams at the club. Williams had signed $200,000 per month contract with Besiktas last month. Prior to this meeting, there had been a lot of rumours that Kobe was not happy with the amount of money on offer.
Earlier the Besiktas management had denied the fact the money is a problem between the two parties engaging in a deal. The club was looking to get a sponsor to cover the costs of the Kobe deal, just like they had done in William’s case.
However, in the end it seems that the Turkish club wasn’t able to pay Kobe according to his wishes. This has proved a point that many NBA Analysts have been highlighting for a while; Kobe Bryant is just too expensive to be afforded by the European teams.
This has also increased his chances of playing in the Chinese Basketball League. China has more potential as far as the endorsements, sponsorships and the money market is concerned. In fact, it is second biggest NBA market after USA. To top it off, Kobe is like a rock star in that part of the world and the Chinese would love Bryant to be part of their league. However as per the reports, the Chinese league does not want players with an ‘opt out’ clause to be featuring and that part of the deal may complicate things.
The deal has also reduced the chances of the Lakers luring in Deron Williams. It was expected that with Kobe and Williams sharing the same court, the former might be able to convince Williams to join the Lakers, who were exposed at that position in last year’s Western Conference Finals against the eventual champions, the Dallas Mavericks.
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