LOS ANGELES—Things are very intense in Italy, apparently. Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is getting closer to reaching a 10-game, $3.2-million contract with Italian pro team Virtus Bologna, though there’s a little issue with revenue sharing.
Two Italian teams remain reluctant to tear up the old schedule and give Bologna more home games this month to maximize Bryant’s appearances with the team. Bologna also wants its first five road games held in Italy’s largest arenas, according to media reports.
A joint statement sent out by Bologna and Bryant’s representatives acknowledged the parties were working “very intensely” to strike a deal.
“Reaching such a complex deal requires both sides’ maximum attention for every little detail,” the statement said. “Everyone wants a positive outcome to the deal, the goal of which is Kobe Bryant’s presence in Italy, economic interests for the 17 clubs in Serie A and more attention for all of Italian basketball.”
Serie A would be Bryant’s new league. Any contract he signs with the Italian club would allow him to return to the National Basketball Association (NBA) if the lockout ends.
Bryant was in Italy last week for promotional appearances on behalf of Nike and would need to sign soon with Bologna. The season opener for Bologna is Sunday.
Bryant, 33, had a procedure on an arthritic joint in his right knee in Germany earlier in the summer. If he plays in Italy, he will probably do so “fairly carefully,” according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Translation: there probably won’t be many blind crashes to the hoop or wild dunk attempts.
Unlike the NBA schedule, the Italian league schedule currently features only one or two games a week, which would benefit Bryant.
Negotiators meet to ‘set the table’ for larger NBA labor meeting
NBA Commissioner David Stern said he and a small group of negotiators met on Monday in New York to “set the table” for a larger meeting on Tuesday that will probably determine whether the remainder of the exhibition schedule will be scrapped.
The league’s lockout of its players is moving toward the 100-days mark with the scheduled on November 1 season-opening games in jeopardy.
“A lot of signs point to [Tuesday] being a very important day,” Derek Fisher, the Lakers point guard and players union president, told reporters on Monday.
Full committees from both sides are scheduled to attend on Tuesday, with reports that stars including Kobe Bryant and Amare Stoudemire could appear. “Each side understands what’s at stake and where potentially there is movement in order to try to get a deal done,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said.
Training camps were scheduled to open October 3, but were previously canceled along with 43 preseason games through October 15.
“We all wish we were starting training camp,” Fisher said.
The owners and players are seriously divided over how to split the financial pie, with the league contending 22 of its 30 teams lost money in the 2010-11 season. The players union has already offered to take a smaller percentage of the league’s basketball-related income (BRI) figure, after players received about $2.15 billion in total salaries, or 57 percent of BRI, last season. The players have offered to take 53 percent.
Over the weekend owners asked the players to settle for 46 percent of BRI in a new contract, and Silver hinted on Monday that there is some disagreement between the sides even in how the BRI is calculated.
Several high-profile agents, including Arn Tellem and Dan Fegan in Los Angeles, sent out a group letter on Monday to their players warning them not to ratify a deal with major concessions, alerting them that a drop of 57 percent to 52 percent of BRI amounts to a $500,000 loss per player.
“The NBA demands deep cuts and major ‘givebacks’ that will cripple your earning potential and the earning potential of every future NBA player,” the agents wrote.
A union offer to cut the players’ share of BRI from 57 percent to 52 percent “will result in a transfer of over $200 million per year [to owners],” the agents warned. “This results in 10 percent or more of your salary being withheld by the owners each season.... This applies to all contracts, including contracts signed before the lockout. You may never receive this money back.”
(With Lance Pugmire)
In Photo: The 17-team Italian league released its full schedule on Monday but it could be altered if Kobe Bryant signs with Bologna. (MCT)
