LeBron James is synonymous with Nike after spending 20 years cultivating one of the most successful athlete-company collaborations in sports.
If Nike wasn’t relentless in their pursuit to sign James, he could’ve been a Reebok or Adidas icon instead of Nike. Signing him meant the world to the brand and it was evidenced by their pitch. The details of the same were revealed to Aaron Dodson and Nick de Paula of Andscape by E. Scott Morris, the former senior footwear designer at Nike.
“Nike presented to LeBron on a Saturday, so nobody was on campus. It was midmorning, early afternoon. Nobody saw LeBron come in. It was just the basketball unit and executives.”
Morris then described the aura around Phil Knight’s office and how they had prepared it to make LeBron feel like he was going to be highlighted as the next superstar of the brand.
“Envision Phil Knight’s office… There are clear cases on podiums on each side, left and right of this hallway. As you walk down, you see shoes in the cases like Air Jordans, Barkleys, Pippens, and Pennys. You see all these shoes leading down to one case, in the end, in the center. That case had a light over it, but nothing was in it. It’s empty as if to say, “This case is waiting for you.” Of everything Nike did, that was the coolest. It was very much so: Your Superman costume awaits you if you’re ready.”
Nike hadn’t just left an empty shoe case to entice LeBron. According to Morris, they created every piece of merchandise that an athlete may want to make products in and had a physical mockup for LeBron ready. This went from sunglasses all the way to underwear!
“There were all these kingly things as if you had walked into a king’s treasure room. When I tell you, no detail was missed — Nike didn’t miss a single thing. Everything the brand thought LeBron might think, it was somebody’s job to make sure it was available for his use or experience. If he said, “Hey, I’d like to have —” … “Oh, we already have that!” Nike went all-out. I think it was the single greatest presentation ever done for an athlete.”
Given we just had a movie come about how Nike signed Michael Jordan, it looks like they used the resources that MJ’s success brought to their basketball division to ensure they also lock up the next generation’s superstar, LeBron James. Now, James has a billion-dollar deal with the company and is going to be their spokesperson for life.
LeBron James Reckoning With His On-Court Legacy
The LeBron James that Nike signed in 2003 has surpassed every expectation ever put on his head. If he didn’t leave the game as an all-time great, people would have called his career a failure. With him contemplating retirement after the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets in the Conference Finals, James may soon walk away from the league that built him into the billionaire athlete he is today.
His retirement won’t be so abrupt, so it’s likely we see him play out another full season at the minimum. If he wants to share the court with his son for a season, he will have to play at least two more years, so it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from there. In terms of his brand, James is more established than he would’ve thought possible in 2003 when he took his first step by signing with Nike.
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