Kobe Bryant announced he would retire at the end of this season but a powerful basketball team in Europe was hoping to change his mind. According to reports, Barcelona offered Kobe the chance to continue his playing career next year and he would only have to play in a limited number of games. Kobe, citing physical reasons, politely turned them down.
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The offer would have been for next year since he was contractually obligated to the Lakers for this final season, not to mention the handsome $25 million he earned this year.
The same team is reportedly hoping that Pau Gasol will return overseas to end his playing career and sign with them and they may have been hoping the idea of playing with Pau again would get Kobe interested.
Kobe would have only played in important games in major markets throughout Europe, which sounds great on the surface but he physically wouldn’t be able to handle it so he said no. We have seen him look broken down physically numerous times this season so it’s clear there would have been no way he could play another year.
It just goes to show you the star power he still has even at his current age. Barcelona knew he was not the same all-star caliber player but they wanted him anyway.
