Lowballed by Adidas, LeBron James indorses Nike as rookie at the NBA in 2003.
But prior to his NBA days, LeBron James was known to be an Adidas fan. Almost all of his pictures during his high school days at St. Vincent High School, King James always wore Adidas.
In the NBA, a shoe-endorsing game, what a player wears can affect how people view at him. A basketball icon as famous was LeBron James can orchestrate thousands, if not millions, of his fans to follow suit on what his feet are wearing during the games.
But how did Adidas missed the lucrative opportunity of having James as its endorser?
According to NBA's Morning Shootaround, Adidas at first became hesitant to offer James with a 10-year contract worth $100 million. This was on the heydays where Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady sell shoes for Adidas like hot cakes.
While Adidas can afford it, the company did not believed that James worth $100 million.
"There was no question that he wasn't going to be courted by other people because obviously he was going to be, but no one believed in him, not $100 million worth," said Sonny Vacarro as quoted by the article.
Vacarro was a former sports marketing executive of Adidas who was working for James' deal.
While Adidas agree of the $100 million deal after nine months, the company cut the amount to around $70 million plus incentives during the supposed signing of contract between James and Adidas before the start of the 2003 regular season.
"If we had a deal, we had a deal. [Adidas] changed the number on me. I'll never forget that as long as I live. We went to a little corner of this mansion. Gloria (James' lawyer), me, LeBron ... and I apologized. I'll never forget what they did. They put their arms around me and they said, 'Sonny, we understand. We know what you did. We're going to be fine,'" recalled Vacarro.
Knowing of the failed Adidas deal, Nike then swooped on LeBron and offered the deal that its rival has been refusing to give for nearly a year.
Now the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers man already raking billion dollars for Nike on what many considered as the biggest mistake Adidas has committed in the history of its corporate life.
"If they sign LeBron James, the world changes," Vacarro pointed out.
