CRED FOR KOBE?: More than a day has passed since Kobe Bryant's arrest on sex assault charges and, predictably, NBA observers all over have begun speculating (jokingly and otherwise) what effect the incident, whatever the outcome, will have on Bryant's "street cred."
Bryant, despite an almost unheard-of three championship rings before the age of 24, was released from his endorsement deal with Adidas at the end of last season, and subsequently signed a shoe contract with Nike that, while rich, was considerably lesser than that of rookie LeBron James, who has yet to play a game in the NBA.
The reason for the lack of endorsement power for Bryant and Tim Duncan, two players who between them have won the last five NBA titles? The two players are said to lack "street cred"- that is, Bryant was raised in upper-middle-class, suburban Philadelphia, the son of an NBA player. Unlike the vast majority of players in the NBA, Kobe is the product of a two-parent household, and has no tattoos, no previous rap sheet, and (presumably) no illegimate children. The same is true of Duncan, who is even more of a rarity- he actually stayed in college for four years, unlike even the straight-from-high-school Kobe.
It's unclear whether the culprit is the "attitude"-obsessed sporting media or actual underclass attitudes, but there is a distinct bias towards players with "street cred," who "keep it real"- a phenomenon personified in, more than anyone else, Allen Iverson. The tattooed, cornrowed, rapping, ex-convict son of a single mother who, after he was arrested last year and charged with 18 counts of menacing his wife and two men with a gun, saw sales of his personally branded sneakers skyrocket. The sales, presumably, continued unabated when two witnesses recanted and all charges were dropped.
Will Kobe's sex-assault arrest result in an uptick in sales of Sprite, Nikes, and other Bryant-endorsed products? That's unlikely: there is no precedent for sex crimes translating into street cred; although Ray Lewis' murder trial did, indeed, increase his endorsement profile. It seems likely either the case will turn out to be nothing and will be quickly forgotten- or if it is something, Kobe will go to prison, and his career will be over. So don't expect Kobe to become the new AI- it's more likely his image will suffer with those who liked the Old Kobe, while he remains out of favor with the Iverson crowd.