????KOBE BRYANT went out with a Hollywood ending to his remarkable career. ????Bryant scored 60 points in his final game Wednesday night, wrapping up 20 years in the NBA with an unbelievable offensive showcase in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 101-96 victory over the Utah Jazz. ????He scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, posting his first 50-point game since February 2009 and rallying the Lakers from a 15-point deficit to win the final game of the worst season in franchise history. ????But you already knew that. ????What many observers in the United States don’t know, however, is that the 18-time All-Star’s absence from the game will probably be felt just as significantly in China, where he is second only to native son Yao Ming in terms of basketball popularity. ????Kobe’s brand has been aggressively marketed in China, and his rise there was swift. He became China’s Jordan, and he has earned a handsome supplemental income because of that status. ????‘Home away from home’ ????Bryant first visited China to host a basketball clinic in 1998. He returned on a promotional tour for Adidas in 2001. Since then, he has visited China every year from 2006 through 2015 on promotional tours for Nike. ????He competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and visited China with the Lakers for two exhibition games against the Golden State Warriors in 2013. ????He’s scheduled to return to China this summer, and it’s no wonder Bryant has referred to the nation as his “home away from home.” ????Olympic impact ????Bryant has played against China once in Olympic competition. He recorded 13 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals in 27 minutes as Team USA defeated China 101-70 in the preliminary round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. ????The lockout tour ????that wasn’t ????When the NBA was mired in a labor stoppage in August 2011, media in China reported that Bryant had committed to play for the Shanxi Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association. Although the story turned out to be false, Bryant did reportedly consider headlining a barnstorming tour in China. Such a tour could have included Derek Fisher, Carlos Boozer and O.J. Mayo. However, the exhibition tour never came to fruition. ????Commercial success ????Bryant has starred in numerous commercials in China over the past decade, including the ones for the Smart car, Sprite and Nike. ????The jerseys ????Since the NBA began tracking international apparel sales, Bryant has practically cornered the market in China. ????The league first released jersey sales rankings for China in November 2005 and Bryant ranked No. 4 in jersey sales that year. After Bryant won the next two NBA scoring titles, his jersey became the top seller in China for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. He ranked No. 1 again in 2012 before dropping to No. 3 in 2013. Last year, Bryant ranked No. 2. ????Media mogul ????Bryant presided over a six-episode reality show in 2008. It was filmed mostly in California but aired in China prior to the Beijing Olympics. “Kobe Mentu,” which translates as “Kobe’s Disciples,” featured aspiring ballers from across China who trained intensely for two weeks under the tutelage of Bryant. ????Bryant also has more than 4 million followers on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging site. ????Giving back to China ????In 2009, Bryant created the Kobe Bryant China Fund and donated 5 million yuan (US$700,000) to relief efforts after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. ????During the filming for “Kobe Mentu,” a teenager named Cao Yan was diagnosed with spina bifida, and Bryant arranged for him to get medical treatment in Los Angeles. ????Bryant also has facilitated cultural education efforts, including Mandarin classes in L.A. schools and an educational exchange program between Chinese and American teens. ????(SD-Agencies) | 