If you've been holding your breath that Kobe Bryant may come out of retirement to join Ice Cube's wildly popular 3-on-3 league, it's time to take a deep breath and exhale. Despite a report that surfaced Tuesday indicating the BIG3's co-founder expected the Black Mamba to join forces with Ice Cube, it doesn't appear to be in the works.
A spokeswoman for Kobe Inc., Molly Carter, who serves as the chief marketing officer, squashed the rumors on Tuesday with a definitive "no."
Turns out, this may have all been one big misunderstanding. BIG3 fans and players have been clamoring for Kobe to join the league next year, and league co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz may have shared that optimism. It led to the following comment on a conference call on Tuesday that may have been misconstrued.
"I did hear from a credible source that Kobe is going to be playing next year," he said via Sports Illustrated. "That's something, but it may be nothing."
It was nothing, after all. Nothing except a brief jolt of excitement for Kobe fans that quickly subsided. Until the next Kobe rumor, of course.