Yao no longer NBA's big man in China as Kobe rules

Kebe Bryant,left; Yao Ming,right.

NBA sales figures in China from the start of the season through last month's NBA All-Star Game were released here Tuesday and showed Los Angeles Lakers playmaker Bryant was the most popular with China's buying public.

Exact numbers on how many jerseys were purchased were not released, although the league said more than 400 million NBA products were sold in 20,000 retail locations in China and were expected to jump by 50 percent.

Allen Iverson of the Denver Nuggets was second with Yao's Houston teammate Tracy McGrady third. McGrady was number one a year ago with Iverson second. Iverson's trade from Philadelphia to Denver might have helped his cause.

Yao, who ranked third last year in NBA jersey sales in China, slumped to sixth this year, passed by Miami's Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and possibly undone by prior years of success among Chinese shirt buyers.

Bryant was fourth in sales a year ago. James remained fifth while Wade leaped six spots after sparking the Heat to last year's NBA crown.

Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Washington's Gilbert Arenas rounded out this year's top 10.

Duncan and Arenas replaced Miami's Shaquille O'Neal and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash of Phoenix on this year's list.

Ten NBA Stores are expected to open by year's end in China, which boasts 300 million people playing basketball, one in every five visitors to the NBA's web site and 83 percent of people aged 15 to 24 saying they are NBA supporters.Basket-NBA-CHN.