The Lakers head to Europe Thursday evening for a preseason in London and Barcelona, in a continent where Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 sits at No. 1 on the list of most popular NBA jerseys for the third straight year.

That information, released by the NBA, comes a week after it was announced that Bryant also retained top selling status in China for the fourth consecutive year, and in the U.S./online for the third time in four years.

Bryant’s teammate Pau Gasol joined him on the European list, coming in at No. 4 behind LeBron James and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.

Below is the Top 10 in Europe:

1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers*
3. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
4. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers
5. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
6. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors
7. Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors
8. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
9. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas ... Read more »

For the fourth season in a row, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant tops the list of best selling jerseys in retail locations throughout China, as the NBA announced on Thursday morning.

Below is the full Top 10 based on 2009-10 sales:

1) Kobe Bryant - Lakers
2) LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers
3) Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic
4) Kevin Garnett - Boston Celtics
5) Derrick Rose - Chicago Bulls
6) Chris Paul - New Orleans Hornets
7) Paul Pierce - Boston Celtics
8) Deron Williams - Utah Jazz
9) Ray Allen - Boston Celtics
10) Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City Thunder

China isn’t the only market cornered by Bryant, however.

His jersey has also topped the sales charts in Europe for the past two seasons, with teammate Pau Gasol coming in third.

In addition, Bryant’s No. 24 shirt has been No. 1 at the NBA Store in New York City and through online sales on NBAStore.com for three of the past ... Read more »

With a hanging bank shot while driving to his right in the third quarter of L.A.’s Friday evening win over New Orleans, Kobe Bryant became the ninth greatest scorer in NBA history, surpassing hoops legend Oscar Robertson.

Bryant needed 16 points to one-up Robertson, and finished the game with 25 to reach 26,720 for his career.

"Oscar was a big personality, one of the great players of the game, arguably one of the top guards to ever play the game,” said Phil Jackson. "Kobe obviously fits in that category now, and he’s persistently gone on through his career and had the longevity to do this. He really recognizes this as a great mile mark.”

Bryant said that he was of course honored and humbled to surpass a player he grew up modeling part of his game after, as Robertson — along with Jerry West and Michael Jordan — was a big, physical guard who imposed his will on his opponent ... Read more »

In June of 1990, a 11-year-old Kobe Bryant was a guest of Nazareno Basket in Carpi (Modena), Italy, for an event with his father Joe "Jelly Bean” Bryant.

Zeno Pisani of Italy’s Rivista Ufficiale NBA — the magazine of the NBA in Italy — provided the photograph.

The Lakers have traded guard Sasha Vujacic and their 2011 first round pick to New Jersey for Joe Smith, Golden State’s second round pick in 2011, Chicago’s second round pick in 2012 and the rights to Ukraine’s Sergei Lishouk.

The deal is contingent on both Vujacic and Smith passing physicals. Lakers team spokesman John Black said that the team plans to put Smith through a physical in Philadelphia in advance of L.A.’s Friday evening game against the 76ers, and if he passes, he’ll be eligible to play in that contest.

The trade was finalized early on Wednesday morning, since Dec. 15 was the first day offseason signees like Smith could be traded. Houston was also involved in the three team trade, and principally received Terrence Williams from the Nets.

Vujacic, drafted by the Lakers back in 2004 out of his native Slo ... Read more »

United States President Barack Obama shares a laugh with the 2010 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers.

After 25 games of the 2010-11 season spent on the bench, the wait for Andrew Bynum’s return appears to be over.

The 23-year-old center told reporters at Monday afternoon’s visit with President Barack Obama that he was "definitely playing tomorrow,” referring to L.A.’s Tuesday evening game against the Washington Wizards. His presence in the line up is way more than welcome to the Lakers, who have struggled (relatively, at least) of late due primarily to a lack of bodies in the post, as Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have had to carry well more weight than should be ... Read more »

Eleven games into the 2010-11 season, Lakers reserve Shannon Brown is shooting the ball nearly as successfully as the Beatles archive just started selling on iTunes.

Not only does Brown rank 22nd in the NBA and second among shooting guards (Ben Gordon, 15th) in field goal percentage (.523), but perhaps more importantly for L.A.’s actual game results, he’s been on fire from three-point range.

Boosted by his 4-for-4 fourth quarter performance from downtown in the Lakers’ 118-107 Tuesday night victory in Milwaukee, Brown’s now hitting 51.3 percent of his threes (20-of-39), leading his team in makes.

"He had a great contribution (against the Bucks), he was terrific,” said Phil Jackson. "Everybody told Shannon (coming out of college) that he had to learn how to shoot a jump shot and he’s taken that seriously, worked hard on it, and now he’s a legitimate three-point shooter.”

Hampered in part by a thumb injury in the second half of last season and in part by a tendency to rush or force action at times, Brown shot only 42.7 percent from the field and 32.8 percent from three last season, and played just 14 minutes per game in the pla ... Read more »