Kobe Bryant Jersey Number One in China

Kobe Bryant is the NBA’s most popular basketball player in China.  Well… according to official* (not those hand stitched fakes seen all over China’s playgrounds) jersey sales.  For the fourth year in a row the Lakers no. 24 jersey is the top seller in the Middle Kingdom.  LeBron James finishes the season (pre-trade) in second place, the same spot he had in the 2008/09 season.  New arrivals in China’s top ten sellers include Derrick Rose, Paul Pierce (back again after a slow 2008/09 sales season), Deron Williams, Ray Allen and Kevin Durant.

Post season sales will see big jumps for LeBron James as fans snatch up the new Miami Heat jersey.  But the biggest increase will be seen from Kevin Durant, who put team USA on his back and took them to a FIBA World Championship gold medal.  While international basketball is not important to the average sport fan in America the Chinese sport fan will soak up any international competition.  During just the few weeks of the FIBA World Champion Kevin Durant’s international stock went through the roof.  Expect next years jersey sales to be evidence.

Maybe the biggest shocker of these numbers is the absence of Yao Ming.  In 2007/08 Yao Ming teetered to fall out of the top ten with a tenth place finish.  Then he bounded back to 6th place the following season.  This year… he finished the season with an injury, while both he and his Rocket teammate, Tracy McGrady, fell from the top ten in jersey sales in China.

In October the NBA will introduce the Adidas Revolution 30 Jersey to the Chinese market during the New Jersey Nets and Houston Rockets exhibition games in Beijing and Guangzhou.  Will the Chinese market spring $350 (or more) for the jersey?  Probably not.  But that doesn’t mean some old lady won’t be making knock-offs in a warehouse along the Yangtze River soon enough.

30% of all NBA jersey sales come from outside the United States while 20% of NBA players are foreign born.

During the 2009/10 season the NBA experienced jersey sale increases of over 20%.

* Jersey sales statistics are taken from NBA online and retail store sales in China.

Top NBA jersey sales by location by season.

2009/2010					2008/2009
	China	USA	Europe			China	USA	Europe
1	Kobe Bryant	Kobe Bryant	Kobe Bryant		1	Kobe Bryant	Kobe Bryant	Kobe Bryant
2	LeBron James	LeBron James	LeBron James		2	LeBron James	LeBron James	LeBron James
3	Dwight Howard	Kevin Garnett	Dwyane Wade		3	Kevin Garnett	Chris Paul	Dwyane Wade
4	Kevin Garnett	Derrick Rose	Pau Gasol		4	Tracy McGrady	Kevin Garnett	Pau Gasol
5	Derrick Rose	Dwight Howard	Kevin Garnett		5	Dwayne Wade	Allen Iverson	N/A
6	Chris Paul	Dwyane Wade	Andrea Bargnani		6	Yao Ming	Dwyane Wade	Andrea Bargnani
7	Paul Pierce	Chris Paul	Jose Calderon		7	Chris Paul	Paul Pierce	Jose Calderon
8	Deron Williams	Paul Pierce	Dwight Howard		8	Allen Iverson	Nate Robinson	N/A
9	Ray Allen	Kevin Durant	Dirk Nowitzki		9	Dwight Howard	Pau Gasol	Dirk Nowitzki
10	Kevin Durant	Carmelo Anthony	Tony Parker		10	Carmelo Anthony	Dwight Howard	Tony Parker

2007/2008					2006/2007
	China	USA	Europe			China	USA	Europe
1	Kobe Bryan	Kevin Garnett	N/A		1	Kobe Bryant	Kobe Bryant	Dwyane Wade
2	Kevin Garnett	Kobe Bryant	N/A		2	Allen Iverson	Dwyane Wade	Allen Iverson
3	Tracy McGrady	LeBron James	N/A		3	Tracy McGrady	LeBron James	Tony Parker
4	Paul Pierce	Allen Iverson	N/A		4	Dwayne Wade	Allen Iverson	Kobe Bryant
5	Allen Iverson	Chris Paul	N/A		5	LeBron James	Steve Nash	LeBron James
6	Gilbert Arenas	Steve Nash	N/A		6	Yao Ming	Carmelo Anthony	Boris Diaw
7	LeBron James	Dwayne Wade	N/A		7	Kevin Garnett	Stephon Marbury	Pau Gasol
8	Dwayne Wade	Shaquille O’neal	N/A		8	Tim Duncan	Dirk Nowitzki	Andrea Bargnani
9	Dwight Howard	Carmelo Anthony	N/A		9	Carmelo Anthony	Gilbert Arenas	Carmelo Anthony
10	Yao Ming	Gilbert Arenas	N/A		10	Gilbert Arenas	Vince Carter	Tracy Mcgrady