Also at stake is whether a long, carefully plotted rehabilitation of his image will ultimately succeed. Bryant’s jersey is back among the league’s top 10 in sales and he’s second behind Houston’s Yao Ming in All-Star game balloting. Nike, which dropped Bryant from its list of endorsers after the Colorado case, plans to roll out a new signature shoe Feb. 1. He will follow that up with his own line of clothing during next month’s All-Star break.

“Sports, music, movies — basically, fans of any form of entertainment don’t do a resume analysis before picking their favorite,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.

“And more interesting,” he added, “will be the fact that his accomplishments this year will probably bring new fans to the sport.”

Before dismissing Cuban as biased, remember: In 2003, he was ripped by the media and scolded by NBA commissioner David Stern for saying Bryant’s trial would be great business for the league. Kobe’s critics disputed that assessment then, and little has changed since.

They’ve dusted off the “selfish” label, pointed out that Bryant is taking a mind- and arm-wearying number of shots every game — he’s averaging 28 — and most important, hasn’t won anything since chasing O’Neal out of Los Angeles. He hasn’t made his teammates any better, those same critics say, and it sends the wrong message to the already swelled ranks of ball hogs.

But if Michael Jordan, the player Bryant modeled himself after, or Shaq, or any of the league’s other leading lights accomplished the same feat, you can’t help but wonder whether it would have occasioned more celebrating and less debate.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

In an interview with the Washington Post, Bryant complained long and loud about the comparisons to Jordan — “to be compared to such greatness isn’t fair.” Still, he insisted he would climb out from the shadow of the NBA’s most legendary player.

“I think that people are getting used to who I am,” he said. “When I first came into the NBA, being this aggressive, this assertive, with a chip on the shoulder when I’m out here on the floor, it may have rubbed people the wrong way because they saw me as being young and cocky. Now that my role has changed, people see that and they see it as being leadership. It’s just a difference in perception.”

That’s Bryant’s story, and he’s sticking to it.

The Lakers, meanwhile, are 22-19 and holding down the sixth spot out of eight Western Conference teams that will make the playoffs at season’s end. That they’re doing it, effectively, playing as a one-man team explains the chants of “MVP, MVP” that break out when Bryant prowls his home court. And even on the road, where taunts and boos continue unabated, no one in the crowd dares take their eyes off him.

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