A couple of days ago, I caught some flak for pointing out that I wouldn’t want an athlete wearing the competitions shoes at all if I was paying him $200 million. That was my stance, regardless of if the contract had even started.
Adidas has spoken out about their new spokesman, James Harden, after he was spotted wearing Air Jordans, owned by competitor Nike while out on a date.
The president of Adidas North America said Harden’s days wearing Jordans and any other shoe are over, per ESPN.com.
Asked whether Harden will have to stop wearing his Air Jordan collection in public when the deal officially commences Oct. 1, Adidas’ Mark King said, “That’s part of the deal.”
“The difference between football and basketball is that a guy like Aaron Rodgers doesn’t have a walk-around shoe,” King said. “Harden does, and he will be in our lifestyle stuff.”
Harden left Nike last month to sign a 13-year, $200 million deal with Adidas. According to reports, one of the reasons Adidas came up off all that cash was because of Harden’s off-the-court popularity.
I don’t see it, and Harden made the signing a joke the moment he felt comfortable being photographed in Air Jordans. No, Adidas doesn’t own James Harden, but how can anyone take the marriage serious when Harden doesn’t? It doesn’t matter if the deal starts in October.
Guys like LeBron, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving don’t wear Adidas or Yeezy’s, and that’s why their allegiance to Nike is taken so seriously by others.
By Glenn Erby
