Kobe Bryant to Sign $3 Million Contract With Italian Basketball Team

According to Italy's Virtus Bologna owner Claudio Sabatini via Sportando there is a deal about 95% done that will earn the Los Angeles Laker's superstar Kobe Bryant $3 million for the first 40 days of the Italian League season beginning October 9th. In the meantime, the NBA has delayed the start of training camp and canceled 43 exhibition games through October 15th.

"Italy is my home," said Bryant, who has three years and $83.5 million left on his Lakers contract. "It's where my dream of playing in the NBA started. This is where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to [move] without the ball...all things that when I came back to America, the players my age didn't know how to do because they were only thinking about jumping and dunking."