Kobe Bryant the business man. CNBC’s Darren Rovell sat down with Kobe Bryant during media day yesterday in Los Angeles to talk about Kobe’s new business relationship wiht Panini. Panini is now the official trading card provider of the NBA. Kobe had this to say about his relationship with Panini:

It’s just a great relationship. We share the same vision and passion for trading cards. As a kid, you know, you collected so many different cards and so forth. They have so much energy and passion they’re kind of pumping that new energy into the business. We share that same goal.

I don’t know about you. But trading cards have been out of the game for awhile. They just don’t have the same interest for kids as they used too. It will be interesting to see if Kobe & Panini can create interest for this sort of thing once again.

Kobe’s #1 in Jersey Sales in the U.S, Europe, & China

Darren went on to explain something that I didn’t know about. Kobe Bryant is actually leading the entire NBA in jersey sales in the United States, all of Europe, and all of China. And a recent sports poll shows that he’s actually the second-most popular athlete in all of America just behind Tiger Woods.

Will Kobe Ever Get On Twitter?

Darren then asked Kobe if he would ever see himself getting on Twitter. Kobe responded “I don’t see myself really twittering too much. If I had something to say, I’d probably just ask Ron to write it for me.” I think I speak for most Laker fans when I say that I am happy Kobe Bryant is not interested in using Twitter. It means he’s more interested in winning championships!