Lakers’ Bryant Said to Get $3 Million Offer to Play Basketball in Italy

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant may get $3 million to play about 10 games in Italy for Virtus Bologna during the National Basketball Association’s lockout, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

“We agreed on the financial terms of the deal with Bryant last night,” Virtus owner Claudio Sabatini told Italian television network Sky Sport 24 in a telephone interview.

The team said in a later statement posted on its website that opposition from some Italian teams to Bologna’s request to decide the schedule of Bryant’s games “calls into question the economic basis of the project to bring Bryant in Italy.”

The Bologna team and the 33-year-old reached a verbal agreement and he will be in the northern Italian city Oct. 5 to sign the contract, according to the person, who declined to be named because the talks are private. Bryant may play for the team that has won 15 championships in Italy’s top league.