Kobe Bryant Gets $2 Million Per Month Offer From China, AA Says

By Benjamin Harvey
Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant
was offered $2 million per month to play basketball at a club in
China, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The proposed salary beat an offer from Turkish club
Besiktas of $500,000 per month, the state-run agency based in
Ankara, Turkey, said citing Besiktas board member Seref Yalcin.
Bryant will play in Turkey should he reject the Chinese
offer, Yalcin said. The Chinese Basketball Association is to
decide Aug. 18 on whether NBA players may play in China during
the NBA lockout, with the Chinese league most likely to rule
they can’t, Yalcin said.
Besiktas also made an offer for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s
Kevin Durant, who said he wouldn’t play on the same team as
Bryant, Yalcin said. Should Bryant not accept a position, Durant
said he was “ready to come and live together with his mother in
Istanbul and wear the Besiktas jersey,” Anatolia quoted Yalcin as
saying.
Besiktas president Yildirim Demiroren returned from a visit
to the U.S. on Aug. 8, where he made the offer to Bryant,
Anatolia said. Demiroren said then that a final decision on
the transfer would be clear within the week.