From the looks of it, James Harden will be taking his act to Adidas as far as endorsement is concerned, if reports are true that Nike is not planning to match the $200 million, 13-year offer handed to the Houston Rockets star by the former.
News about the offer came out last Aug. 3 when Darren Rovell of ESPN revealed that Adidas had offered Harden the humongous contract just to land the bearded one.
And a recent report from TMZ Sports reveals that Nike doesn't have any plans to engage their rival company in a bidding war. This practically makes Harden's transfer to Adidas imminent.
The deal, once made official, will place Harden among the elite NBA stars who have lucrative endorsement deals. That list includes Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, and Dwyane Wade as reported by Forbes.com.
Why is Adidas throwing the world at James Harden? Here's their U.S. shoe market share in 1st 6 months of 2015 pic.twitter.com/15GSkw7JLn
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 6, 2015 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">If both Harden and Adidas make it official, Harden would be the main endorser for Adidas. The company also has Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard, and John Wall under their wing but if Harden's deal with Adidas pushes through, the trio could end up backing up the Rockets star guard.
The deal does make sense and seeing that Nike has brand ambassadors like Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant already, throwing additional money on Harden could become immaterial.
The move stands to help Adidas as well in the shoe market, owning just a four percent share together with Asics. Nike/Brand Jordan holds a large chunk of the market with 58 percent followed by Skechers and New Balance.
Even though the deal is still unofficial, there is at least one person who could be teasing that Harden would be biting the Adidas deal soon — Khloe Kardashian. According to TMZ, Harden's girlfriend was spotted sporting Adidas gear at the Drew League game.
The imminent signing could be done by the week. Backing that up as well is the fact that two other comrades are also signed with Adidas — Dwight Howard and the brother-in-law of Khloe, Kanye West.
