Nike has signed a lifetime contract with Cavaliers superstar LeBron James. It is reported that this is the first time Nike has signed a lifetime contract with a professional sports player in 44 years. According to people close to James, the lifetime contract James currently signed with Nike is several times the contract Durant signed with Nike. In other words, starting from twice that, James' contract is worth at least US$600 million.
In recent years, sporting goods sellers have paid more and more attention to cooperation with sports stars, and huge contracts with sky-high prices have followed one after another. When Durant renewed his contract with Nike last year, the two parties signed a 10-year, $300 million contract, which was the first sky-high price in history. This summer, Harden and Curry also received their own big sneaker contracts. This season, James received Nike's first lifetime contract in 44 years.
In an era when salary caps and player salaries have skyrocketed, the money players receive off the court has also skyrocketed. So, for the league's stars, how much do they usually get every year? Here, let’s take a look at the top 15 sneaker contracts in the league today.
15. Stedemeyer, Nike, $3 million per year
14. Chris Paul, Jordan, $4 million per year
13. Came Ron Anthony, Jordan, $4 million per year
12. John Wall, Adidas, $5 million per year
11. Dwight Howard, Adidas, $5.9 million per year (Details of Howard's latest contract with Peak are unknown)
10, Blake Griffin, Jordan, $6 million per year
Griffin's violent aesthetics, flying dunks and full His athletic game made him a fan favorite, which also made him one of the aces of the Jordan Brand. In addition to Jordan, Griffin is also the brand spokesperson for the automobile brand Kia and the world's largest online sports goods retailer Footlocker.
9. Damian Lillard, Adidas, $10 million per year
The sixth overall pick in the first round in 2012 was able to make it into this league at such a young age. list, entirely due to his performances and the potential these performances showed Adidas. In his first three seasons in the league, he averaged 20.3 points and 6.1 assists per game. It’s no wonder that Adidas is willing to spend a fortune on Lillard.
8. Dwyane Wade, Li Ning, US$12 million per year
Before Wade signed with Li Ning, he was affiliated with the Jordan Brand under Nike. At that time, Wade’s endorsement remuneration Also $10 million per year. However, Wade has only cooperated with Jordan Brand for three years. Before that, he was the spokesperson of Nike's Converse brand. After signing with Li Ning, Wade will not only receive an annual remuneration of US$12 million, but will also receive a large amount of Li Ning shares.
7. Derrick Rose, Adidas, $14.2 million per year
Just before Rose sprained his ACL in the 2012 playoffs, Adidas signed the Bulls superstar signed a 13-year, $185 million contract. Although Rose missed a large number of games due to injuries and his performance was far from what Adidas expected, Adidas did its best to promote Rose's peripheral shoes from beginning to end. Every year, Adidas launches many styles of Rose's clothes; and Rose's signature boots have reached the 6th generation of Rose. Therefore, Rose's sneaker sales are quite good.
6. Kobe Bryant, Nike, $15 million per year
Although Kobe's career has come to an end, Kobe is still one of the favorite NBA players among fans around the world. One, this also creates Kobe’s commercial value. Every summer, Kobe Bryant's trip to China can bring considerable revenue to Nike.
5. James Harden, Adidas, $15.4 million per year
Finally, Adidas decided to show more ambitions in the basketball field, and they snatched away the upper hand from Nike. Season MVP favorite James Harden. The reason why Nike did not match Harden's contract is that they believed that this would lead to excessive investment in a single player, which was not cost-effective in terms of return on investment and risk estimation.
4. LeBron James, Nike, $20 million per year
Because the amount of James’ latest lifetime contract has not yet been determined, we can only rank his current contract in on this list. Including this annual sneaker contract of 20 million, James can earn 42 million U.S. dollars in endorsement income every year off the court. Before this season, James had earned approximately $452.1 million in his career.
3. Kevin Durant, Nike, US$30 million per year
In the summer of 2014, UA (Under Armor) tried to offer a total price of up to US$285 million. The offer contract took away regular season MVP Kevin Durant from Nike. But in the end, Nike decisively matched the offer and successfully renewed KD's contract.
2. Stephen Curry, UA, unknown
The details of Stephen Curry’s contract with UA have not been exposed. We only know that this contract will last until 2024.
However, according to many media reports, the total amount of this contract is similar to Durant's, so we put it in this position. Although sales of Curry's sneakers were dismal before, winning the MVP and championship made UA, which desperately wanted to expand its basketball market share, see the value of investment. In 2013, UA's share of the basketball shoe market was only 0.35%; on the contrary, Nike and Jordan Brand's share was as high as 93%. UA’s sales of basketball shoes were US$30 million, and Durant’s signature sneakers alone sold US$85 million.
1. Michael Jordan, Jordan, about 100 million per year
The top of this list is actually a player who has retired for many years, but after all, he is Michael Jordan . Some NBA stars go bankrupt after retiring, but Michael Jordan makes more now than he did while playing in the NBA. During his playing days, Jordan only received about $90 million in sneaker contract remuneration. After retiring, he will receive $100 million per year from his contract with Jordan Brand. This amount is nothing to the Jordan Brand, which can sell 2.5 billion every year.
There is no doubt that superstars have an amazing influence on the sneaker market. More and more brands, such as Adidas, UA, Li Ning, etc., want to occupy a larger proportion in the field of sneaker sales, which has also led to a linear increase in sneaker contracts for players. The pursuit of Harden is the beginning of Adidas' expansion into the basketball field. In the 2014-2015 season, Nike had 283 player contracts in the NBA, about four times more than Adidas - only 70. For this reason, Grancio, general manager of Adidas’ global basketball business, said: “In the next five years, Adidas will invest more money in basketball. By 2020, Adidas hopes to have player contracts in the NBA that are two times the current number. times.
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