Or even bolder: "James Harden doesn't care who you think is MVP. He's too busy changing the game of basketball."
Adidas took out a full-page ad in the biggest newspaper of the biggest competitor for the MVP race, which is such a ballsy move. It's not like it was a half-page ad in the Houston Chronicle with a whiny tone. Full page ad in Milwaukee newspaper ON THE DAY OF THE GAME with an "I'm cool as ****. But you're free to think otherwise" message is lowkey awesome. And I wish more people could see that.
They've gained market share, but have not surpassed Nike in basketball or overall in any form. Giving $500M to Dwight and Derrick Rose didn't pan out. They sent a literal truck load of rare Yeezys to Giannis and he signed with Nike right after. A great example is looking at Kobe who was with Adidas and Nike, what the two brands did with the same player is telling. Kanye has boosted the brand, no pun intended. This is the type of thing a fan who owns some car dealerships in town or a fan who is an ambulance chasing attorney would do to get their point across, (i.e. take out a newspaper ad or billboard on some ancient form of media), this is not what you do when you have billions invested in the sport, and several hundred million on James alone. Call it a conspiracy theory, but Nike does A LOT behind the scenes to influence how people think, and they are doing it through modern forms of media. They run social media campaigns that get their narrative across, hell I wouldn't be surprised if they helped make those Harden no defense videos go viral along with him getting his shot blocked against the Spurs with edits. Who reads newspapers? Not impressed.
Not really. From a YOY growth standpoint looking at just North America Adidas has been crushing Nike and UA who have seen their market share decline. Their partnerships with the Kardashians, Pharrell, and Kanye have helped, but they have not surpassed Nike in apparel sales or really in anything. Nike does 3X as much in apparel sales as Adidas and has 3X the market cap.
How about, "You could stay in the weak ass East and rack up Finals appearances like LeBron or come to the West and completely miss the playoffs, again like LeBron." Or "Best conference is the West. BEST player in the best conference is me." Or better still, "hold my beer while I put 40 on Giannis and the Bucks tonight".
