Kobe Bryant is willing to bring his sneakers and star power to Istanbul, if the price is right.
The Lakers star is demanding $1 million per month to take his talents to a Turkish professional basketball team during the NBA lockout. The LA Times reports Kobe's agent, Rob Pelinka, has an offer from Besiktas for $500,000 a month.
Seref Yalcin, GM of the Turkish team, tells SLAM magazine there's a 50 percent chance that Kobe may come to his country. A meeting is scheduled July 30th to work out details.
"Everybody has a price," is a much repeated quote, but it sure holds true if you'd like to hire Kobe. The bloated baller was paid more than $400,000 tax free, to travel 10,000 miles for pickup basketball games in the Philippines. Fellow well-heeled NBA stars Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose received the same handsome compensation.
Should the National Basketball Association work stoppage come to an end before opening night, Kobe's $25,244,493 salary will be the highest in the sport.
Thanks to a fateful trip to Colorado earlier in his career, Bryant has spent lots of money on lawyers, but he's still earned $196,190,615 over his Hall of Fame career.