Former NBA player Tim Thomas got an opportunity to go to Michael Jordan’s house after his rookie season in 1997-98. Thomas, who was the 7th pick of the 1997 Draft, was taken there by Scottie Pippen, but when Jordan saw that the youngster was dressed in Adidas gear, he forced him to take it off.
“But I was an Adidas athlete, so I walk in MJ’s house, I got all Adidas gear on,” Thomas said. “So, MJ stopped me at the door, ‘Hey oh, you gotta take that off.’ So, they basically stripped me down and put me in all Nike gear. So, when I end up leaving MJ’s house, the funny thing was all my Adidas gear was packed up in the bag sitting outside. He didn’t even want to leave the gear inside.”
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Not even allowing Thomas to have that bag with Adidas gear inside his house sure seems like something Jordan could have done. We know he has always had a tendency to be quite petty on such topics and it is quite hilarious to imagine how surprised Thomas would have been as the whole thing transpired.
Jordan, of course, signed with Nike on October 6, 1984, the same day that he made his NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls. Their partnership eventually became one of the most successful ones in history, and Jordan earned $260 million from Nike last year alone.
Michael Jordan Once Told Jalen Green To Take Off His Adidas Shoes
Just like Thomas in the late 1990s, Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green ended up in a somewhat similar situation with the Bulls icon years later. Green recounted how when he first met Jordan, he was told to take off his Adidas shoes.
“I got a crazy story. I went to a Michael Jordan camp in San Diego,” Green said. “I’m walking to practice from the dorm. I got like, high socks on up to my knees, baggy shorts. My swag was terrible. I got Adidas slides on, and he just walked over to me and was like, ‘You need to take them weaka** Adidas slides off.’ I looked back, I’m like, ‘What you mean?’ He said, ‘You need to get some Jordan slides.’ I said, ‘Give me some.’
Jordan did end up giving them to a young Green, who was over the moon. I would love to say that Green then came into the NBA and signed a deal with the Jordan brand, but he actually signed with Adidas. So, Jordan’s efforts did end up in vain.
Michael Jordan Wanted To Sign With Adidas
While Jordan has no use for Adidas now, they were his first love. When Nike presented him with the offer for his signature shoe, Jordan had a poker face, as he was an Adidas guy.
Such was his devotion to the brand at the time, that Jordan’s mother had to convince him to take that first meeting with Nike, instead of just signing with Adidas. He did not want to sign with anyone else, but she told him to at least listen to what they had to offer.
Jordan eventually did it and while he was impressed with their presentation, he wanted to give Adidas a chance to match. He would have signed with them if the offer was anything even close to Nike’s, but they decided against it and the rest is history.
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