Is Kobe Bryant really going to leave the Lakers to play in Europe. Did all those rumors that started circulting earlier in the Summer about a big name player leaving for a big time FIBA ball club have truth to them?

TrueHoop on ESPN.com has gathered some more interesting information. Supposedly, the Greek team Olympiacos is planning on offering Bryant a 3 year $83 million deal next summer after he opts out of his contract with the Lakers (if he opts out of his contract with the Lakers).

I’d recommend reading the article on your own because there is nothing I can say different than what’s already been said by the main source:

“There are some stories out there, with the sketchiest of sources, suggesting the Greek club Olympiacos is preparing a massive offer to try to lure Kobe Bryant. I first learned of it from a TrueHoop reader, but it’s on several websites.

There is talk of $60 million for three years. Mediterranean villa. Staff. Yacht. Private jets. New arena. The whole deal.

Feel the temperature rising in here?

I’ll pour a little water on it.

This talk, I suspect, is speculation born of a recent New York Times article in which the deep-pocketed owners of Olympiacos speculated that they would be adding big names in the future.

Just as they made a big, successful offer to Josh Childress this past summer, I guess we have to assume they will make offers to other free agents in the future.

Including big-name free agents like Kobe Bryant.

But here’s the thing: Kobe Bryant is under contract for the rest of this year. FIBA would not allow Olympiacos to offer him anything right now, because just about every major club in the world respects other club’s contracts, per FIBA rules.

So there must not be any offer right now.

Now, if Kobe Bryant opts out of his contract next summer, might there be offers from Olympiacos?

There will almost certainly be offers from all over. But we knew that.

Chris Mannix of SI.com recently wrote about what Bryant’s suitors might be up against:

“He’s going to opt out,” an Eastern Conference general manager said. “He’s going to want to see what the market is. He’s going to want to flex his muscles.”

Even if Kobe does opt out, however, very few executives believe that he would leave the Lakers, who would be able to offer him a six-year deal worth about $150 million.

“He will definitely re-sign,” an East personnel executive said. “This isn’t five years ago. He’s the unquestioned leader of an elite team and he’s playing in a city that loves him.”

That’s a pretty formidable amount of money he could make in Los Angeles. And they can offer something that plainly drives this man: The opportunity to win NBA championships, and to etch his name into all kinds of NBA record books.

Olympiacos can’t touch that.

What’s new in the world of basketball is the idea that NBA free agents might get offers from teams that are not constrained by the collective bargaining agreement or the salary cap. The are some new chess pieces on this board, and it will take some getting used to.

But that’s not the same thing as saying that Kobe Bryant is headed to Europe. Until we have a lot more evidence, I assume there is little chance Bryant will depart the Lakers.”

I do have one quick thing to say about this… did anyone consider that Kobe’s endorsements are enough and he’s not all about the money. If for whatever reason the Lakers don’t win the title this season, and the team needs just a little bit more money to pull in another big name player, is there any chance that Kobe would opt out in order to take a pay cut and give the Lakers a chance to sign some more talent?