After a decade and a half in Laker yellow, it's nearly impossible to imagine Kobe Bryant wearing the colors of any other basketball team.
A 2011-12 Italian Serie A Bryant jersey, though, may not be completely out of the question, because if the NBA and the NBA Players Association cannot come to terms on new collective-bargaining agreement prior to next season, the Black Mamba may return to the land of his childhood to play basketball in the meantime.
"I wouldn't be opposed to it," Bryant told the Los Angeles Times. "You know how much I love Italy. I grew up there."
Still, he was hardly declaring a definite plan.
"I'm not locked into anywhere," he said, smiling. "I'm locked out. You've just got to play it by ear."
The NBA has not made definitively clear whether or not players will be able to go overseas to play if a lockout does occur.
Bryant, of course, has three years, $84 million left on his contract with the Lakers.
