Adidas has offered James Harden a $200 million shoe deal over 13 years in an attempt to steal the Houston star from Nike, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell.
Adidas offers James Harden a $200 million shoe deal
Harden isn’t an NBA free agent until 2018, but he’s on the market for a shoe contract and adidas is trying to steal him away from Nike.
Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
While $200 million isn’t historic -- Kevin Durant’s 10-year deal with Nike is worth $300 million -- it’s still a huge sum for one of the NBA’s top players. Adidas may be overpaying for his services, but they likely see it as a necessary option after Under Armour -- who has NBA champion and MVP Stephen Curry on its roster -- passed them to become the second-best selling apparel company behind Nike last year, per Rovell. (That statistic measures total company shares, not NBA in general.)
Harden does not have a signature shoe brand with Nike, something that Adidas will surely give him if he joins their team. Harden is now one of the game's biggest stars, and he helped the Rockets make the conference finals last season before falling to Stephen Curry's Warriors in five games. Houston added Ty Lawson this summer, a troubled but talented point guard who they hope is the piece who can take them even further in the loaded West.
Adidas has signed Derrick Rose, John Wall and Damian Lillard as their NBA representatives, although they did not re-sign Harden's teammate Dwight Howard after his deal expired this summer. There's still a possibility Nike matches the adidas offer and given Harden a signature shoe, but with a $1 billion uniform contract with the NBA set to begin the 2017-18 season, Nike may not have the money to retain him.
2017-18 begins Nike's $1b contract with the NBA. Free's up money for Adidas to land High-level NBA players.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 3, 2015 Regardless, Nike-owned brands still have a monopoly in the NBA, selling 90 percent of basketball shoes in the United States.
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