“I made $40 Million and an All-Star game because of this party!” How Gilbert Arenas threw himself a birthday party worth $1 Million and turned it into a multi million dollar shoe deal from Adidas along with an All-Star starting spot over Vince Carter

Ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas recently sat down with Kyle Kuzma and opened up about his iconic 25^th birthday bash and how it helped him a multi-million shoe deal with Adidas.

When it comes to being NBA stars, especially the cream of the crop, are put into the spotlight as soon as they enter high school. And these players who showcase the potential to become superstars for the foreseeable future, get endorsements and commercial deals that sometimes go far beyond the money that they make from just their salaries.

For example, Zion Williamson signed an unprecedented five-year $75 million deal with Jordan Brand before even making his NBA debut, there were no doubts he’d been anointed the company’s next signature star.

Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas is best known for his tenure with the Washington Wizards. In his prime, Agent Zero was known to be a bucket and a complete 3-level scorer and was tearing up the league. As a result, it was time to renew his already existing Adidas deal.

And just like anyone, Arenas wanted the big bag from the company. So, what did Arenas do to eventually secure a multi-million-dollar deal from the company? Read on and find out…

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Gilbert Arenas’s iconic 25^th birthday party.

Former All-Star Gilbert Arenas was a once-in-a-lifetime player. And we’re not necessarily talking about his ability on the court. His massive gun-locker room controversy, huge parties, etc… We might never see a player like Agent Zero in that respect ever again in the NBA.

However, there was a time when he wasn’t one of the most popular players in the league. In fact, the only reason Adidas weren’t offering former guard the bag was his lack of popularity, despite being a 2x All-Star at the time. So, in order to gain some fame, he tried to so in the most Gilbert Arenas way possible.

He threw his 25th birthday party in 2007, Arenas made sure that he could use it to grow his popularity and end up with a bigger deal than he was being offered. In a recent interview with Kyle Kuzma, he opens up the same –

“At this point in time, I’m not a clubber. “I’m in the middle of negotiating for Adidas, I’m a 2x All-Star on a $100,000 shoe deal, and they’re trying to get to $500,000. I’m like, ‘No, I’m worth $2 million.’

“So I’m gonna throw a birthday bash because I head Vince Carter’s mom used to throw parties and have everybody and have everybody fill out the ballots. So, I was like, ‘I can do a party and have people through the ballots at the party.

And somehow, he even managed to convince Puff Daddy. This was after Lil Wayne initially declined to come to the party, and it really set the ball rolling.

“Once I got Puff P, everybody became easy. So I hit Wayne back, he confirmed. I hit T.I., he confirmed. Me and Game was tight, so Game confirmed. I hit Busta, and Busta cost more than everyone else. He was like, ‘For my price, I’mma be the best show.’ And then I got Doug E. Fresh.”

The plan worked as Arenas ended up hosting a party for around 7,500 people.

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Gilbert Arenas secures shoe deal and All-Star starter spot due to his party.

As we had earlier mentioned, Arenas threw the party to gain some popularity with the fans and media alike. Mainly for two reasons. Firstly, getting an All-Star spot over Vince Carter. Secondly, and more importantly, getting that multi-million shoe deal with Adidas.

“I think I was down like 200,000 votes behind Vince and overnight, took him.”

And the idea worked like a charm. He overtook Carter as the starting guard in the All-Star game that year.

And more importantly, give him some form of leverage during contract talks with his shoe company.

Adidas offered him the $2m/yr deal that Arenas had asked for, but he ended up negotiating it further and inking himself a $5m/yr deal for 8 years that would end up totaling $40 million.

The party was an iconic one too, one that will go down in the history books. This turned out to be one of those WTF stories that you will hear about Gilbert Arenas at this point. But it also shows, always bet on yourself.

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