Kobe Bryant: Why A Career In China Is A No-Go

Speculation has spread about Kobe Bryant entertaining a post-NBA career in China, but the Black Mamba is too great a player to think of playing overseas.

While there is very little chatter on the subject, the whispers about the possibility of Kobe Bryant playing in China and other places overseas has been significant enough for the media to grab a hold of it.

Being that Bryant is one of the most popular athletes in the country, media outlets are hyping it up as a lucrative opportunity for the aging Lakers superstar and for the growing attention surrounding the Chinese Basketball Association, where many former and current NBA players have gone to either stay fresh during an exile from the league or continue playing once their old age forces them out of the league.

One of those players, former NBA point guard turned CBA superstar Stephon Marbury, has become the de facto spokesperson of this movement, stating to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that he thinks a Kobe stint in China would be the “biggest thing in basketball” in the country.

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While it makes some sense financially and maybe even from a global image standpoint, allow to me put these conversations to rest with a pretentious yet accurate statement: Kobe Bryant was — and is — too great of a player to entertain a career overseas.

Don’t get me wrong, China’s professional basketball league is widely recognized as one of the best in the world, serving as both a breeding ground for future NBA players (Yao Ming and Emmanuel Mudiay, to name a couple) and has been a place where players on break from the league could keep their legs fresh (J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler and Aaron Brooks).

However, on the flip side of that, the league also has gotten a reputation as being a place where players whose popularity — and skills — have long faded away in the Association go to try to get the magic back, only to fade further into obscurity. Think Marbury, Gilbert Arenas, Tracy McGrady and even Metta World Peace before the Lakers picked him up this summer.

Of the four, only Marbury was able to create and sustain a successful career overseas, becoming the league’s best player and winning multiple CBA championships.

Unfortunately, this success still has done very little to erase the vivid memories of the monumental flop of a career that he had in the NBA, showing marvelous promise early in his career before becoming a running punchline as a member of the Knicks and the proprietor of a $15 sneaker (anyone remember the failure that was the Starburys?).

Despite all of these aforementioned players being some of the Association’s best at one time or another, none of them even came close to reaching the allure and legend that Bryant has. Kobe has no need to seek to regain adoration, acclaim or respect abroad; he’s got plenty of it here.

Bryant’s name, unlike the McGradys and Marburys of the basketball world, doesn’t evoke thoughts of a tremendous talent wasted and what could’ve been. Bryant is widely viewed as one of the greatest players of his generation, perhaps the greatest, and is included in the top 10 all-time lists of many a basketball fan.

Bryant’s quite fine financially stateside, too.

Despite suffering from injuries in his latter years, the Black Mamba was still the third-highest grossing basketball player behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant and the 10th-highest paid athlete in 2015 according to the Forbes list, bringing in $49.5 million with only $23.5 million of that coming from his on-court earnings.

Bryant has the sixth-most popular jersey in the league as of June 2015 and his signature sneaker line with Nike raked in $105 million in the U.S. alone last year.

Simply put, Bryant is still quite the cash cow in America and isn’t financially desperate like some of the aforementioned players who’ve made the exodus to China.

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While a move to China might prove lucrative for both Bryant and the Chinese Basketball Association, Bryant’s legend and appeal stateside is too great to consider such a risky venture. The Mamba is exactly where he belongs — among the people who adore and respect him the most.