Kobe Bryant Plays Some Epic Ping Pong in Chinese Startup Ad

The legendary basketball star recently shot an ad for a Chinese food delivery startup called Ele.me. Though he initially sucks at ping pong at the start of the commercial, Bryant pulls through at the end of the match with an incredible comeback.

In the 27-second ad, the former Lakers player is visibly hungry. His hunger affects his performance as he repeatedly misses the returns from his opponent.
His coach, who is on the sideline, grabs his phone to pull up Ele.me’s food delivery service. Seeing this, Bryant goes full Mamba at ping pong and smashes the ball in an incredible slow motion jump shot. The crowd goes wild and he wins the game.

4Ele.me, which translates to “Are You Hungry?” in Chinese, is a Shanghai-based company that received a $1.25 billion investment from the e-commerce giant, Alibaba, earlier this year. AdAge reported that Bryant has been in recent talks with Alibaba regarding the launch of his is line of products. As a relatively new company, scoring Bryant for a promotional ad is a pretty big deal. Chairman of McCann Worldgroup China, Tomaz Mok, told AdAge:

Though the amount paid to Bryant for the ad wasn’t disclosed, it’s safe to assume that it was money well spent. Fans in China and Jackie Chan love Kobe.