As a result of the rapprochement between star and public, sales of his jerseys have climbed. His is now the fourth best-selling jersey in the NBA, which is one step up from last year.

So how does he reward that customer loyalty? Why, with a blatant attempt to squeeze more money out of those customers, of course. How else?

It should be noted that Kobe Bryant signed a seven-year contract with the Lakers in the summer of 2004 worth $136 million. He lives in Newport Beach; to put that in context, it’s about two or three steps up from where Reggie Bush’s parents live. Unless there are other forgiveness rings we don’t know about, it’s likely he’s still a wealthy young man.

Before this recent report, there hadn’t been any signs that Kobe was unhappy with his jersey number. He had never complained that he was being prevented by nefarious forces from wearing the number closest to his heart, No. 24. He never dissed the No. 8 as being unworthy of his torso.

He wore No. 24 at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa. But by his senior year of 1996, when he led his team to the state championship, he had switched to No. 33 to honor his father, former NBA player Joe “Jellybean” Bryant. When he came into the league as a rookie he could not wear No. 33 because it had been Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s number, and the club retired it. So he settled for No. 8 because it was the number he had as a child playing in Italy.

That occurred in the fall of 1996, when he jumped directly from high school to the pros. He is presently finishing his 10^th NBA season. One can only wonder what it must have been like to earn the salary of a superstar professional basketball player, along with endorsements from companies like McDonald’s, Sprite and Nike, plus ancillary revenue from personal appearances and autographed merchandise, when all the while the fact that he couldn’t have his beloved No. 24 was eating away at him.

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Soon, of course, he can have his No. 24, and so can his fans. On the NBA.com Web site, the store lists authentic personalized Lakers jerseys as going for $169.99. (Note: It did not indicate if there is a markup for a Kobe jersey, or a markdown for a Sasha Vujacic jersey.)

But let’s say you have a kid who’s a Kobe nut, and you had already sprung for the bare minimum — one authentic Kobe No. 8 jersey — and now you’ll also have to fork over another $169.99 for a No. 24 jersey (assuming they don’t raise the price next year, which is a silly assumption) to keep the little rascal happy.

That’s at least $339.98 to honor a guy who makes $136 million.

Well, look on the bright side. There’s always a chance gas prices could come down.