You'll never guess the one state where Kobe is beating Steph Curry in jersey sales
The latest evidence of Stephen Curry's nationwide domination of the NBA comes with a mindboggling caveat: Kobe Bryant is extraordinarily popular in one of the last places you'd expect.
In 47 states, Curry's jersey outsells all others. The Golden State Warriors point guard even tops the Black Mamba in their shared state of California. Yet if you travel all the way across the country to tiny Delaware, you'll apparently see a ton of Bryant jerseys:
Steph Curry is the best selling jersey in 47 states, according to @fanatics. LeBron (Ohio), Durant (Oklahoma), Kobe (Delaware)
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 1, 2016
Naturally, Kevin Durant and LeBron James rule the states in which they play. Other than those three, however, it's all Curry across this great land. The reigning MVP overtook James as the best-selling jersey in 2015, and he once again topped the list when 2016's numbers were released last month. Search traffic for Curry's jersey has also surpassed queries for James' jersey for the first time this season:
"Steph Curry Jersey" has finally overtaken "LeBron James Jersey" in web searches this season pic.twitter.com/voPZ8iWeVT
— HSAC (@Harvard_Sports) February 27, 2016
As for Bryant and Delaware, there's not a single reasonable explanation for the apparent incongruity. Bryant's former high school is just miles from the Delaware border, and his retro jersey is the most popular throwback in the state, according to a report published last year. Perhaps the state is simply stuck in a time warp where Bryant is still one of the best basketball players on the planet.
