Adidas makes $200 million offer to James Harden

Other Adidas endorsers include Damian Lillard and John Wall.

Adidas has submitted a bid of $200 million over 13 years to signal Houston Rockets guard James Harden, sources informed ESPN. A player of Harden’s caliber will be huge for the company to retain an National Basketball Association presence with a superstar.

Nike can still match Harden’s Adidas offer by the end of next week. Harden signed an $80 million contract extension with Houston in 2012 that goes through the 2017-18 season. Earlier this yr, Adidas introduced that it might not battle to resume that deal, which can see its competitor Nike take over after the 2016-17 season.

Adidas is trying to grab a foothold on a market that has seen it slip behind Under Armour for the second most sold athletic apparel company in the United States.

Harden, who will make $US15.8 million with the Rockets this season in the third year of his five-year contract, could make more than $US32 million this upcoming year in salary and shoe deal alone, depending on how the endorsement deal is structured. Harden only 25 years old and already arguably one of the world’s top-five basketball players.

By landing Harden, Adidas builds up a stable of basketball endorsements that has been lacking in recent seasons.

It is reportedly not a foregone conclusion that Nike will let Harden go to Adidas as they are reportedly on edge since letting Curry walk last season and missing out on up and coming golfer Jordan Spieth.

According to Rovell, “From April through June, Harden had the seventh-best selling jersey in the National Basketball Association, finishing ahead of the likes of Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook“.