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“How can you hate James Harden?”: Nets superstar commits all of the marketing budget for his Adidas Vol 5 shoes to supporting minority businesses in Brooklyn

Amulya Shekhar
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Ahead of his return to Houston for the first time as a Brooklyn Net, James Harden announced his plans for the marketing budget at hand.

Harden played over 8 seasons in Houston, and he played like an MVP candidate for the entirety of his time there. When the Thunder traded him to the Rockets, they had no inkling of what they’d let go.

Perhaps Harden may never have bloomed into a perennial MVP candidate if not for the trade. It still ranks as one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history, and Sam Presti lives to regret it.

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The Beard is the greatest scorer in the team’s history. He may not have led them to the Promised Land in the time of the Warriors and LeBron. But he did his level best to keep them at arm’s length. His scoring average of 29.57 points per game through a whopping 621 games is astounding.

James Harden pledges to donate millions to minority businesses in Brooklyn

Harden became the first Houston Rockets player with a signature shoe since T-Mac in the year 2016. The Adidas Hardens are one of the bestselling basketball sneaker lines on the planet, and we’re getting the 5th iteration of these shoes now.

Obviously, the sportswear giants would have loved to promote the sneaker line of the best player on their roster. But Harden seems to have other plans with the budget that Adidas has allocated for billboard advertisements.

Harden has pledged to use all of this marketing money to fund 25 minority-owned businesses in Brooklyn. This is a great initiative by the Beard given the recent controversy surround LeBron James and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Also Read: “Damian Lillard is playing through deep personal issues”: Trail Blazers’ MVP has been affected by the death of his close personal friends recently, but soldiers on

Harden has also been involved in donating thousands of meals to the city of Houston in the wake of the Texas storms. You can hate Harden for his decision to leave H-Town, but you can’t hate him as a person.

About the author

Amulya Shekhar

Amulya Shekhar

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Amulya Shekhar is a sports junkie who thrives on the thrills and frills of live sports action across basketball, football (the American variant works too), parkour, adventure sports. He believes sports connect us to our best selves, and he hopes to help people experience sports more holistically.

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