I hope Kobe Bryant got paid for this. And I am certain he did.

He arrived in Dubai on Wednesday and was three hours late for a press conference (plane delayed, apparently, and most every press conference in the UAE starts at least an hour late) at which he talked about healthy living, and staying active. (His brief trip here was called, after all, the “Kobe Bryant Health & Fitness Weekend”.)

On Thursday, he was 100 miles south, in Abu Dhabi, for a basketball clinic at a private school, and The National had a videographer there, watching Kobe coach people not actually on the Lakers roster.

On Friday, he was back in Dubai and did an appearance at a Nike store, and then coached the Black Mamba UAE celebrities in a goof-around exhibition game at the American University in Dubai.

How did it go?

Well, it would seem.

(Though we can’t speak to Kobe’s physical condition, given the punishing trip halfway around the world — and included an overnight flight back to Los Angeles for Lakers media day, tomorrow.)

He attracted crowds wherever he went, which speaks well for his personal reputation as well as the steady percolation of NBA awareness into the sports world.

No matter how much cash he deposited, his message about getting active and staying healthy has value in the UAE, where culture and climate lead to a lot of people sitting around — and the maladies that come from that.

He did no interviews at that event, but we got video of it, and I recommend you follow the link, above, because it has a couple of classic Kobe moments in it. (Made me nostalgic, not being around him, these past four years.)

Both statements come while he is working with a single kid, about halfway through the video. He has the kid demonstrate his “triple threat” stance, and then he has him shoot from the spot, go to the basket and, then, go to he hole with his left.

The kid apparently misses the shot, and Kobe says: “Oh, the left … a little shaky.” The kid is, maybe, 12.

The kid attempts a few more shots, making almost none of them, and Kobe says: “Who taught you to shoot?” He says it in such a way that it is not directly accusatorial in tone — with a rise in pitch at the end of the question. But the implication is clear: “That shot is awful.”

I love that. So Kobe. Thank God he will never actually coach kids. In a real game. He will be a holy terror on elite professionals, and I imagine some day he will coach the Lakers, and none of them will be as good as he was nor work as single-mindedly as he always has.

At the celebrity game, on Friday, at the gym at the American University, the place was packed with 2,000 people, The National‘s man reported.

Several people in the crowd are quoted, and they reflect the diversity of the UAE — but also the places where basketball has taken root. Specifically, an Australian, a Lebanese, an American (of Arabic origin), a Filipino (hoops is the national sport there; no, really) and a guy from Macedonia — formerly a part of Yugoslavia, a huge basketball country.

So, Kobe did not go unnoticed. Not at all.

The soccer and cricket devotees, and between those sports that accounts for probably 90 percent of the people here, may have heard of him, but they almost certainly were not among the people taking photos and video of All Things Kobe.

But the legitimate basketball fans, far removed, here, from the game, even in Europe, seemed to be quite excited.

As he went to the airport late Friday/early Saturday, I wonder what Kobe thought about his short stay in the UAE.

Oh, and for the record? Kobe’s celebrity team won, 72-63. Of course they did. Probably terrified of letting him down.