Nice work if you can get it.
Kobe Bryant led a group of NBA All-Stars over to the Philippines for some exhibition games. To say the were paid handsomely for their cooperation would be an understatement.
Star-studded exhibition games like the two taking place in the Philippines this weekend are proving to be quite profitable as well, with one source with knowledge of the deals saying the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Chicago’s Derrick Rose are being paid more than $400,000 apiece for their weekend of work (reminder: tax-free).
Worthwhile ventures like these are a less-explosive strategy on the labor front, though there is — as reported by Yahoo! Sports on Saturday — an impatient contingent of agents who is pushing for a more aggressive approach that involves the decertification of the union and subsequent antitrust lawsuits.”
I think this is the players biggest leverage in the NBA Lockout. Unlike NFL players who didn’t have any other options to make money during their lockout (which is finally over), NBA players have several overseas and barnstorming opportunities.
Granted it isn’t like making millions of dollars, but someone like Kobe Bryant could certainly make a ton of money and lesser players could make enough to get by.
It is ironic that David Stern worked so hard to make the NBA a Global sport that it actually may work against the NBA in the lockout negotiations.