LOS ANGELES — They are two of the NBA’s biggest names today.

They’re stars for a new generation of NBA watchers who have heard of legends like Wilt, Magic and Bird but have only seen them play on ESPN Classic.
But starting Thursday night when the NBA Finals tip off here, together the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Orlando’s Dwight Howard will begin to add ink to a fresh page in NBA history.
In his 13 NBA seasons, the 30-year-old Bryant has been on this stage before and knows what it took to earn his three rings. At 23, Howard is experiencing the Super Bowl-like circus of June for the first time, but is no league infant in his fifth season.

HARDWARE

Bryant wins this battle, having been a sidekick to Shaquille O’Neal in the Lakers’ NBA championship three-peat ending in 2002 and his NBA Most Valuable Player trophy from the 2008 season.
Howard’s biggest piece of NBA hardware came this season when he was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in both blocks and rebounds. He also got a lot of mileage out of winning the NBA’s slam-dunk contest during the 2008 All-Star Weekend. Both were members of the “Redeem Team” during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics that won the gold medal.

STAR QUALITY

Howard is clearly one of the league’s rising stars, as evidenced by him leading in fan votes for the all-star game this season.
But Bryant’s star is global.
Not only did he regain the top spot for having the league’s top selling jersey, but the manner in which he was mobbed in China this past summer shows how big a star he is overseas.
Still, while a TV-driven audience might have swooned over the possible Kobe-LeBron James pairing in the Finals, getting both of these stars on the court for the next two weeks isn’t a bad consolation prize.

UNWANTED PRESS

Bryant’s NBA career and image was rocked during his involvement in a 2003 incident in Colorado that ended with him being charged with sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman.
Bryant admitted to having sex with the woman but denied forcing himself upon her as she had claimed.
The case eventually ended in 2004 when charges were dismissed after the accuser refused to testify in court.
The only thing that came close to unwanted ink for Howard was last season when it became public that he had fathered a son out of wedlock.
The story had legs because the mother was a former Orlando Magic dancer and also because of Howard’s devout Christian faith. Howard often wears a chain around his neck that has an image of 1-year-old Braylon.

Marketability
Howard’s image has always been an easy one to sell to advertisers.
Always smiling and willing to play to the cameras, Howard’s endorsement portfolio is $20 million a year thanks to deals with Vitamin Water, McDonald’s and T-Mobile.
Howard comes across as an accommodating teddy bear for fans. “There probably isn’t anyone in Orlando who doesn’t have his autograph,” Magic General Manager Otis Smith joked earlier this season.
Howard also is one of the league’s most active players in his community, donating a lot of time and money to needy Orlando youth groups this past season.
Though it was feared that Bryant would take a hit with endorsements after his rape case, it has recently all started to come back to him.
He boasts deals with Coca-Cola and Nike and recently signed a lucrative one with Madrid-based watch maker Nubeo, which is producing a new line of “Black Mamba” series watches based off Bryant’s nickname. The new high-end timepieces fit in with an endorsement folder for Bryant that was an estimated $17 million in 2007 but has likely crept over $20 million since.

Ghosts of Shaq
All the extra-curricular stuff aside, both Bryant and Howard will be trying to help exorcise ghosts of Shaq during the Finals.
For Bryant, finally winning a title without Shaq would help to carve out his own individual legacy in the league and get him closer to matching Michael Jordan’s six rings.
Shaq’s ghost burdens Howard as well. Ever since Howard put on a Magic jersey, the comparisons to O’Neal have been made. And since taking over Shaq’s old Superman moniker following his dunk-contest exploits, things have become even more heated, including Shaq taking shots at Howard earlier this season.
But as much as Shaq talks, he failed to bring Orlando a championship when he took them to the Finals in 1995.
If Howard can, he would not only officially win the Superman debate but finally break the “Curse of Shaquino” that has haunted the franchise since O’Neal’s departure to L.A. in 1996.
And for Magic fans that’s certainly worth more than who was the first to wear the blue and red logo.