The 24-year-old Lakers player was charged on Friday by a Colorado district attorney. The all-American Bryant, who has built his endorsement power partly around his young family-man image, has said he is guilty of adultery but that he did not force the 19-year-old alleged victim to have sex.
Bryant faces one count of sexual assault, which carries a jail penalty range from four years to life. If convicted, the star could face the same descent as boxer Mike Tyson, whose own career was practically ruined by a rape charge for which he went to prison.
The rape charge comes hot on the heels of a newly signed, five-year, $45m (拢28.4m) deal with Nike. The sporting goods firm has not even had time to film Bryant in a Nike commercial or release a range of shoes branded after the basketball star.
Nike, like Coca-Cola, which uses Bryant for its Sprite "Obey Your Thirst" campaign and is due to keep doing so until 2005, and McDonald's, who has also used the star, will now adopt a wait-and-see approach.
Whatever the outcome of the trial, Bryant's ability to attract new endorsement deals is almost certain to be over.
However, Bryant's sponsors are unlikely to simply dump him lest they suffer a backlash of public opinion for dropping the star in his hour of need.
The companies concerned are not saying much. McDonald's issued a terse, half-sentence statement simply stating: "McDonald's has a relationship with Kobe Bryant", which was matched by Coke's "We have worked successfully with Kobe Bryant since 1997 and he remains under contract with us through 2005".
Of the three, Nike was the only one of the sponsors to mention the trial, but it gave no indication of its intentions. "We are pleased to have a relationship with Kobe Bryant. He is a great player. Kobe has stated that he is innocent of the charges filed today," a spokesman for Nike said at the weekend.
Last year, Bryant came in behind Tiger Woods and former NBA star Michael Jordan in the endorsement stakes, making his a speedy rise through the ultra-competitive world of American sport and the endorsement millions that go with it.
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