I don't understand how Nike could have possibly viewed Kyrie getting a sig shoe over Harden as the right call. That decision would have been made before LeBron announced his return and Kyrie on a bad Cleveland team with no nationally televised games doesn't seem like a great use of marketing funds. If that decision was made after LeBron then it doesn't make sense to split the marketing focus on two spokesmen who play for the same team. Compared to Harden who 1) has a unique game 2) on national display 20 times a year 3) in a bigger city 4) that produces a TON of bball talent 5) with a solid color palette Kyrie's choice as a sig athlete seems so premature. And for the record I LIKE Kyrie. Who is making decisions at Nike? Still cant believe they let steph go to Under Armour.
Man I heard Paul George was next in line before Harden to get his own signature shoe as well. Then Paul got hurt. I'd be mad too if I was James. Take that money.
I'd try to leave if I were James, too. Seems pretty obvious he's not a priority at Nike. Look at Steph Curry. He's rocking trash Under Armor shoes, but he's getting commercials every 20 seconds as well.
More important question is which insurance company will Harden sign with to increase his MVP chances - Allstate or GEICO?
I wonder what caused the shift on Nike's end from having multiple sig athletes to just the 3/4 that we have today? In the 90s/00s I remember Nike having Payton, KG, Pippen, Penny, Jordan, Barkley all at once. The mid 00s was short on true star power but I definitely think this current crop of stars has quite a few guys who are worthy of sigs.
After learning the Steph Curry got 285 mil to go to under Armour makes me see how this offer is a slap in the beard for James Harden. Adidas doesn't even make wing guard shoes. Their shoes don't change direction, you think Derrick Rose is trying to get hurt, those shoes suck. They're not made to move the way he moves. This is has to be James' people posturing to get money from nike or under Armour. I can't see him in Adidas and I can't see him taking that much less than Curry
PTI actually had a segment of whether Adidas should have offered him the deal. They seemed to think Adidas was stupid. Why does the national media so strongly dislike James Harden? I've never seen such disparity between results(western conference finals), peer respect(players choice MVP) and media perception.
