Nike isn’t committed to matching the offer New York Knicks phenom Kristaps Porzingis received from Adidas, but it has a groundbreaking opportunity to do so.
Playing in the NBA requires an individual to be more than an athlete. Kristaps Porzingis, the new pride of the New York Knicks, appears to be embracing that reality.
Though some may chalk this up to basic business, Porzingis has made what could be a career-defining decision.
Porzingis has built his brand as the most exciting and promising player on New York’s primary professional basketball team. There’s no better way than that to enter the public eye as far as basketball is concerned.
According to Nick DePaula of The Vertical, Porzingis’ rise to prominence has created a bidding war for his services—a war that could end before it truly begins.
"New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis has signed a multiyear footwear and apparel endorsement deal with adidas, sources told The Vertical.The deal will pay Porzingis, 21, between $3 million and $6 million annually, depending on incentive bonuses met. It’s the most lucrative shoe deal signed by a European player to date."
DePaula continued:
"Nike, his previous sponsor, has until mid-October to match the exact terms of the adidas contract because of the brand’s standard “right to match” clause, but Nike is not expected to match the deal, sources said."
Nike is unlikely to match the offer, but it shouldn’t be so quick to make that decision.
It stands to reason that Nike isn’t confident that a non-American can appeal to basketball sneaker fans in the United States of America. That’s a unique dilemma, as no major sports leagues but the NBA and NFL are demographically dominated by American players.
Companies may outsource in an attempt to find cheap labor or create a global economy, but we as a country of citizens are patriotic and, in some sects, nationalistic economically.
Americans generally have no trouble purchasing products made in other countries, but even those are often marketed and advertised with American personalities.
Historically speaking, non-American NBA players—specifically European players—have failed to achieve the level of U.S. popularity that their American peers have been able to.
Yet, those European players have been some of the greatest of our generation.
From a statistical perspective, the late years of Pau Gasol’s career are comparable to his earliest seasons. He’s remained consistent throughout, which is why he’s made multiple All-Star Game appearances this late in his career.
Yet, because he’s European, no one seems to mention Gasol in all-time conversations, despite his two NBA championships and multiple decades of consistency.
Those same traits have been praised, heralded, and manufactured as reasons for all-time status amongst American players. See: the longevity debate.
And no, John Stockton was never better than Isiah Thomas.
Dirk Nowitzki is cut from the same cloth as Gasol. One could easily argue that Nowitzki became the first European player to actually lead his team to a championship in the traditional sense of being the clear-cut No. 1 player.
One could actually argue that, before Nowitzki, no one player had led such a starless team to a championship since Tim Duncan in 2003 or Dwyane Wade in 2006.
Wade, of course, played with Shaquille O’Neal, who no-showed the 2006 NBA Finals. Nowitzki, of course, beat Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh in the 2011 NBA Finals—and he did it without a second 2011 All-Star against three 2011 All-Stars.
Yet, CNBC reports that Nowitzki wasn’t even Top 10 in jersey sales in 2010-11—a Top 10 list that included the likes of John Wall, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Rajon Rondo.
Patrick Ewing, Gasol, Hakeem Olajuwon, Nowitzki, Tony Parker—the list of great NBA players who weren’t born in the United States of America is endless. Yet, none of those non-American players have dominated shoe sales.
It’s not because they weren’t good enough to have a shoe deal; it’s because Americans generally haven’t supported non-American athletes with their money.
Despite winning MVP in 2006-07 and an NBA championship in 2010-11, Nowitzki has never dominated shoe sales—or even jersey sales, for that matter. Despite winning four NBA championships, Parker’s signature shoe and jersey sales pale in comparison to those of Derrick Rose.
Not even Olajuwon, who led the Houston Rockets to back-to-back NBA champions in a brief stretch without Jordan, made waves in the shoe market.
Porzingis could be the long-awaited player to break the mold.
Porzingis plays in a major market, where he’s turned critics to fans by playing an exciting brand of basketball. His popularity was even evident on the business side of things.
According to Darren Rovell in ESPN, Porzingis was fourth in the NBA in jersey sales in 2015-16, trailing only Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.
That means the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook all sold less jerseys than Porzingis—who was a rookie.
The question is: is Nike willing to make this powerful leap of faith?
Must Read: Realistic expectations for Kristaps Porzingis in 2016-17
If it matches adidas’ offer, then it would have the opportunity to forever change the NBA shoe and apparel markets in the United States of America.