While Kobe Bryant and estranged wife Vanessa have been ridiculed in the media due to their impending divorce with rumors of gold-digging and infidelities, the two have managed to wheel and deal their logistics of their divorce quite privately.

The couple have apparently reached an agreement that everyone can agree on and it has been signed and sealed leaving everyone happy.

Vanessa is walking away with $75 million, which we’re told represents close to half of their total assets, estimated at around $150 million.

It turns out, based on the property settlement, Vanessa scored a clean sweep, snagging ALL THREE of the former couple’s mansions in the Newport Beach area.

Vanessa gets the estate the couple was living in, the estate her mom is living in, and she gets the new estate that had been under construction for 2 years and was just completed.  We were told Kobe was moving into the new estate, but that’s not true.  It’s Vanessa’s crib, lock stock and barrel.

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It’s right before the beginning of the basketball season and we all thought Kris Humphries had it bad…

Kobe Bryant‘s wife Vanessa announced that she would be divorcing her husband (and probably taking half of his fortune), and now sports commentator and former baller Charles Barkley lends his two cents about Kobe’s situation saying that he expects fans to be less than sympathetic for the basketball star.

“I really like Kobe; I wish him all the best,” Barkley, 48, said Tuesday on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “But of course the fans are cruel. They’re going to be shouting stuff at him. He’s going to have to deal with that.”

The tartness, Leno points out, could stem from Bryant’s alleged infidelities.

“That’s never good for a team,” Barkley says of the gossip. “I’m just telling you, that’s never positive.”

“He’s so strong, mentally,” Barkley says. “I think he’ll be fine.”

It was just a few days ago that Kris Humphries took to the court for his New Jersey team and was booed and jeered by the fans. Tough crowd.

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Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant confirmed to THE INSIDER’s Kevin Frazier exclusively that she has filed for divorce.

The couple say “We ask that in the interest of our young children and in light of the upcoming holiday season, the public respect our privacy during this most difficult time.”

Not surprised.

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The NBA lockout is on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will be taking a vacation. After months of speculation, Kobe has signed on to play ball in Italy for the Italian club Virtus Bologna. The 33-year-old star will play approximately ten games during the lockout:

“We have reached an economic deal,” Virtus president Claudio Sabatini told a local radio station. “There’s still some things to arrange but at this point I’m very optimistic. I would say it’s 95 percent done.”

A source close to the negotiations told The Associated Press that the sides have settled on a $3 million contract for the opening 40 days of the Italian league season.

Kobe speaks fluent Italian and lived in Italy between the ages of 6 and 13, and he will obtain a work visa to return to Italy late next week.

“Kobe should be in Bologna by Wednesday or Thursday with his visa in hand for medical visits and then we can deposit the contract with the league,” Sabatini said. “I want to make clear that right now there are still no signatures. We’ve got to write the contract, which will then be read over and over again.”

There is a clause in his contract that if the lockout ends, Kobe will be able to get out of his deal with Virtus Bologna and return to the states immediately if needed.

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Kobe Bryant is wanted for questioning by the San Diego Police Department after a man claims that he was assaulted by the basketball star at a church. The man says that Kobe came up to him trying to take his cell phone and in the scuffle, he hurt his wrist.

“Kobe was reportedly in the St. Therese of Carmel Church in Carmel Valley this past Sunday when he allegedly grabbed the phone out of a man’s hand.

According to KCBS-TV in Los Angeles — which first reported the incident — Kobe thought the man was using the phone to take pics of Kobe and his wife … but did not find any photos on the phone.”

The man went to the hospital to treat his wrist, no word on the specific injuries he sustained.

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Kobe Bryant, who was slapped with a $100,000 fine after calling an NBA official a “faggot”, joined the rest of his Lakers teammates in a new PSA urging people to “think before they speak”.

The basketball players say “Whether someone is different than you in race, ethnicity, political beliefs, religion or sexual orientation, words can be hurtful.”

Hmmm….

Kobe Bryant now has to pay for an “anti-gay” slur he made during the third quarter of a Tuesday night game against the San Antonio Spurs.

The NBA has fined Kobe $1000,000 for what it’s calling “inexcusable” homophobic language against a referee. Bryant told ESPN he’s going to appeal the fine, saying his comment was made in frustration during the heat of a game. NBA Comissioner David Stern says it doesn’t matter when the comment was made, “While I’m fully aware that basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated.”

His apology isn’t enough. “The comment that I made, even though it was not meant as what it’s perceived to be, is nonetheless wrong,” Bryant said on ESPN radio.

The controversy comes at a time when the NBA was already planning a public service announcement campaign with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in order to present the league as being more “gay friendly.”

The announcement is set to air during the NBA Finals and part of the GLSEN’s “Think Before You Speak” campaign about anti-gay language.

“When it comes to homophobia, nothing surprises me,” said ESPN’s L.Z. Granderson, an openly gay sports writer.

“He finally apologized and that means he’s doing some listening,” Granderson said.

Sports blogger John Krolik said, “Kobe does have freedom of speech but freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences.”

Bryant seems to realize that now.

“There’s a lot of things that are being said that should not said,” Bryant said on ESPN Radio.

What do you think – does Kobe deserve to be fined?

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