LeBron James is the most popular NBA superstar of the last two decades. Like the players of his popularity and caliber before him, LeBron’s anticipated debut in the NBA created as much buzz as can be imagined.
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But perhaps the biggest buzz it created was among the shoe brands that dominated the American markets in 2003. The Holy Trinity of Adidas, Nike, and Reebok had all but ended all other brands.
While there were a few athletes like Kevin Garnett who decided against going with these three, almost every other athlete in the country only wanted to sign with the big three shoe companies.
LeBron James was no different. In fact, his anticipation started a bidding war between Nike and Reebok. Reebok had already given an incredible $115 million offer but Nike wasn’t as trigger-happy to sign LeBron. In fact, LeBron kept Reebok on their toes until the last moment.
LeBron James misled Reebok till the last day
NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, who wrote the book LeBron James Inc.: The Making of a Billion-Dollar Athlete, detailed the story of LBJ’s iconic shoe deal. Unsurprisingly, for the most anticipated athlete of the last two decades, it was nothing short of being straight out of a film.
Reebok was the first one to make LeBron an offer. Their offer had been so good and dramatic that Gloria couldn’t help but tear up. In contrast, Nike’s offer had been far less dramatic and even less impressive. Where Reebok had offered him $115 million, Nike’s offer was nowhere close.
But per Windhorst, LeBron James had imagined himself wearing Nikes and not Reeboks. Growing up, he had envisioned himself being like Michael Jordan and signing a deal with the same brand MJ had signed with all those years ago.
Now, when Nike wasn’t offering him as great a deal, LeBron was still not happy with Reebok. So, on the day he was finally going to sign with Reebok, executives of that company camped in a hotel in Akron. However, at the last moment, James agreed to Nike’s final offer of $87 million and signed with them. Needless to say this left Reebok executives really angry but Nike got what it wanted and for much less than Reebok.
In 2003, 18-year-old LeBron James signed a $90 million deal with Nike.
He was asked about how he would handle the pressure to succeed:pic.twitter.com/nOngyrCQTK
— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) October 12, 2020
Sonny Vaccaro and Adidas also had been in the race
Vaccaro and Adidas, like Reebok and Nike, were also a part of the race. However, after Reebok offered LeBron such an extravagant contract in the beginning itself, Adidas had difficulty matching the contract.
Vaccaro and Adidas eventually dropped out of the race after the company failed to meet Reebok’s $100 million initial offer. Vaccaro was in fact so mad at them, he considered quitting. But in hindsight, it’s hard to imagine them offering anything to LeBron that could have swayed him from Nike.
