bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Nicolas Atkin

A Chinese superfan of Kobe Bryant has solved the mystery of the NBA legend’s missing high school jersey, more than two years after it was stolen.
The signed basketball uniform was taken from a display case at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania in 2017 by two masked men, and somehow made it halfway around the world.
Kobe fanatic Liu Zhe bought the No 33 jersey for US$2,000 last October to add to his collection of “Mamba” memorabilia at home in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. The shirt wasn’t actually worn by Bryant during his four years at the school from 1992 to 1996, where he scored 2,883 points.
The 28-year-old Liu has proudly displayed other items of Bryant memorabilia on Instagram, including No 8 and No 24 Los Angeles Lakers shirts, and said he was contacted by an online seller regarding the high school shirt.

Remember in 17’ when @kobebryant memorabilia was stolen from Lower Merion?
The framed jersey eventually ended up in the hands of Liu Zhe from China. Liu paid $2K (online seller) once it arrived he realized it was the stolen jersey.
Via: @usatodaynba
: @LakersWorld_16 (IG) pic.twitter.com/2HDxWtGcJs
— Audel Del Toro (@Audeezy_) March 14, 2019

After realising the shirt was stolen, Liu said he wanted to return the jersey to Bryant in person on Saturday when the ex-Lakers star comes to Shenzhen for the 2019 Fiba Basketball World Cup draw.
But he agreed to mail it to Bryant’s former school after contacting the Lower Merion Basketball team through Instagram. It was received last week and handed to police before being verified as authentic by a local memorabilia shop.

Liu has met Bryant several times at promotional appearances in China and the US, and has a signed photograph with the five-time champion from 2018. “He signed, ‘Dream big! Live epic! Mamba mentality’,” Liu told ESPN. “What I did was my ‘mamba mentality’.”
“I hope Kobe can know the news before he comes to China,” Liu said.
Several other items of Bryant memorabilia were stolen from the same break-in in 2017, including a state championship trophy, an All-American plaque and some match programmes.

“We’d love to know what happened to the other items too but just the fact that someone, when they realised what they had, was willing to send it back and do the right thing was a very welcome turn of events,” Lower Merion team coach Doug Young, who played with Bryant at the school, told ESPN. “We’re very excited to have the jersey back in its appropriate place.”
“I’m sure the Kobe tourists who come to Lower Merion High School to check out the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium and the trophy case will enjoy seeing the jersey again,” Young said. “For our school community, it’s certainly bigger than that – we appreciate that someone was generous and willing enough to give us back a little piece of our history.”


NBA legend Tony Parker backing France to take US Olympic crown at 2028 LA Games

NBA chief plays down chances of regular-season games in Asia after multi-year Macau deal

NBA’s deal with Macau marks end of 5-year China exile, brings Nets, Suns to casino city

NBA signs deal with Sands China to play pre-season games at Venetian Arena in Macau

NBA (National Basketball Association)

Kobe Bryant superfan from China returns NBA legend’s stolen high school jersey

Liu Zhe poses with Kobe Bryant’s high school shirt which was stolen by thieves in 2017. Photo: Instagram

Liu Zhe with some of his other Kobe Bryant memorabilia

Kobe Bryant poses alongside his shirt

Kobe Bryant gets Fiba Basketball World Cup 2019 ambassador role in China with Yao Ming

Kobe Bryant poses with a Fiba Basketball World Cup 2019 ball. Photo: Handout

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 27: Former NBA and Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant watches the eighth inning of Game Four of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Harry How/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

The Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant salutes the crowd after his final game, on April 13, 2016, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Kobe Bryant still leads the way for NBA on Chinese social media but Jeremy Lin, Golden State Warriors on the rise

Kobe Bryant launching the NBA China Academy at Mission Hills Haikou. Photo: Mission Hills

Jeremy Lin plays basketball in Shenzhen at the Jeremy Lin All Star Game on 4 August, 2018. Photo: ImagineChina

Sport

Basketball

China

Liu Zhe paid US$2,000 for jersey before realising it was snatched in 2017 break-in
Harbin native happily sends uniform back to Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania


Harbin native Liu Zhe pays US$2,000 for shirt before realising it was snatched in 2017 break-in, but happily sends it back to Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania


Kobe Bryant superfan from China returns NBA legend’s stolen high school jersey

Liu Zhe paid US$2,000 for jersey before realising it was snatched in 2017 break-in Harbin native happily sends uniform back to Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania

Liu Zhe paid US$2,000 for jersey before realising it was snatched in 2017 break-in

Harbin native happily sends uniform back to Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania