Adidas has vowed to invest more money in basketball, and their first big move is a monster shoe endorsement offer made to James Harden of the Houston Rockets that could make him one of the 25 highest-paid athletes in the world.
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Bulls guard Derrick Rose, Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard and Wizards guard John Wall are among the notable players under contract with Adidas.
Nike, whose contact with Harden recently expired, has until the end of next week to match adidas’ offer if it wants to keep Harden.
Adidas has reportedly offered Harden a 13 year $200 million sneaker deal according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com.
Last year Adidas fell to number three in terms of best-selling apparel brand in the United States behind Nike and Under Armour. Earlier this year, Adidas announced that it would not fight to renew that deal, which will see its competitor Nike takes over after the 2016-17 season. In Harden’s deal, nevertheless, Adidas has to win if Nike can not match the deal provided. Harden signed an $80 million contract extension with Houston in 2012 that goes through the 2017-18 season. Nike is still stung by getting outbid by Under Armour for Stephen Curry by $4 million, only to see him blow up into a superstar. Sources say a part of what Adidas is prepared to pay has to do with the potential for the plenty to embrace Harden on a good larger scale if the Rockets could make extra of a splash within the playoffs within the coming years.
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“From April through June, Harden had the seventh-best selling jersey in the National Basketball Association, finishing ahead of the likes of Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook“, Rovell reports.
