Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a Nike athlete for his entire NBA career, but he nearly signed with Adidas over a decade ago. On the Thanalysis Show, Antetokounmpo reveals Adidas had claimed they would give him and his brother, Thanasis, a shoe deal, but when they refused to give them both a deal at the same time, he turned them down.
“He (Adidas representative) brought the contract and then he put it in front of me,” Antetokounmpo said. “And I’m like, ‘Okay great, where is my brother’s?’ And he was like, ‘We’re really not going to sign your brother today. You’re going to sign yours first and then we’re going to bring your brother in a week to sign his.’ And I was like, ‘Uh uh, no thank you.'”
Antetokounmpo had worn Adidas shoes all his life up to that point and he shared that the representative had been very nice to him and his family before that meeting. The individual’s energy had changed when they met to sign the deal and Giannis has a theory for why that happened.
“I think because he knew that we had no say,” Antetokounmpo stated. “And that at the end of the day, if you had put in front of us some toilet paper and some cash next to it, we probably sign it because he knew we were in need. At the time we wasn’t able to take care of our family in the best way, so he knew that he knew our story.”
Giannis believes either that representative or the people above him tried to take advantage of their family because of the situation they were in. He was not going to let that happen.
At some point after that meeting, Antetokounmpo was contacted by Nike’s Susan Mulders. Having worn Adidas all his life, he didn’t want to sign with Nike, but they were willing to take care of his family.
“It was my turn to speak and I said that it’s important for me to be a family thing,” Antetokounmpo said. “When you take me, you take my family, my brother, my mom. And she was like, ‘Yeah, sure, whatever.’ After that, we’ve been with Nike and she’s been by our side ever since.”
(starts at 2:42 mark):
Thanasis joked that Nike has to give Mulders a raise, as she had helped the brand land his brother, Luka Doncic, and Victor Wembanyama. Giannis added that she was responsible for Nikola Jokic signing with Nike as well and said she needed to get some stock.
Well, Mulders appears to be Sr. Director, North America, Sports Marketing for Nike Basketball, so she certainly has been well taken care of. As for that Adidas representative, Antetokounmpo revealed he was fired a few years after their meeting.
Adidas famously decided against matching Nike’s offer to Michael Jordan back in 1984 and this was just another massive mistake. Antetokounmpo signed with Nike in 2013 and just went from strength to strength after that. He won a championship, a Finals MVP, two MVPs, and a DPOY award with the Milwaukee Bucks to establish himself as one of the best players in the NBA.
Nike released Antetokounmpo’s first signature shoe “Zoom Freak 1” in 2019 and he has now had five in total. A sixth signature shoe will be released at some point later this year.
For now, though, Antetokounmpo, who averaged 30.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game this season, would be focused on getting back on the court as soon as possible. The 29-year-old suffered a left calf injury earlier this month and his status for the first-round series against the Indiana Pacers is still unclear.
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