When Kobe Bryant calls it quits after this season, he’s going to be done playing basketball forever. Over the last few years, there has been some speculation about how Kobe might finish off his career in Europe, but he reportedly deaded those rumors last month when he said that he’s going to be finished with basketball when he takes off his Lakers uniform for the last time. Stephon Marbury wants Kobe to reconsider.
Marbury is basically a basketball god over in China right now. People love watching him play there, so much so that he already had a statue erected in his honor. A Marbury-themed museum is also set to open soon. And while we’re sure he enjoys being the biggest thing in basketball in China, Marbury recently told Yahoo! Sports that he wouldn’t mind seeing Kobe come there in the near future to play.
“They love him here,” he said. “It is a little bit past love. It would be like the biggest thing ever in basketball here. It would be beyond huge. Beyond big. I would definitely encourage it…They love basketball here. You can’t control the excitement.”
Playing in China would be a big change for Kobe. For example, during his interview with Yahoo! Sports, Marbury mentioned that he flies commercial with the rest of his Beijing Ducks teammates. But the changes he would need to make would be a small price to pay for Kobe, who would undoubtedly rake in millions of dollars playing in China and get statues and museums (in addition to the statue he already has!) just like Marbury.
Think he’d ever do it?
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[via Yahoo! Sports]
