Vanessa Bryant To Join Basketball Wives After Kobe Divorce

Vanessa Bryant is looking likely to join the permanent cast of VH1 show 'Basketball Wives', with producers ready to make her an offer "she can't refuse". Multiple sources tell TMZ.com that producers are putting together "an extremely lucrative pitch for Vanessa", though ironically, she will soon be a former-Basketball wife once her divorce from Kobe Bryant goes through.

As for the strange timing, insiders say the Basketball Wives team "never dreamed" of approaching Bryant to star on the show while she was happily married to Kobe and sources suggest Vanessa would not have been receptive had an offer come in. Budget restraints were also an issue for producers with the show still in its infancy. TMZ say, "Producers knew Vanessa would be very expensive -- but now that BW's one of the highest rated shows on the network, producers have lots more to spend on talent". If Vanessa accepts the offer, she would be instantly made a lead character in the Los Angeles edition of the show. She certainly has a story to tell, having recently secured a huge $75 million divorce settlement from Kobe. Vanessa will reportedly receive the huge lump sum as well as three properties the couple own in Newport Beach, California, according to the New York Post. The lump sum is exactly half of the couple's $150 million fortune and as for the reason behind the divorce, sources say Vanessa was "fed up with her husband's alleged philandering".

Speaking about a possible role on Basketball Wives, an insider close to Bryant said she "has more than enough storyline and would bring the show to another level".