What if Michael Jordan had signed with Adidas instead of Nike back in the 80s? According to MJ himself, that was actually a possibility.
During episode 5 of The Last Dance, Jordan revealed that he wanted to sign with Adidas and had no desire with signing with Nike. Unfortunately for Adidas they weren’t ready to bring in Jordan due to some struggles within the company.
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1257118012928225280
Did you have a shoe company that you wanted to go to?
Jordan: That was Adidas.
Jordan’s agent David Falk: Adidas was really dysfunctional at the time and they told me that they would love to have Jordan but we just can’t make a shoe work at this point
Jordan went on to reluctantly meet with Nike which led to his agent David Falk asking MJ’s mom to convince her son to take the meeting and the rest is history.
Jordan’s Agent David Falk: I couldn’t even get him to get on the team plane to go to the Nike campus so I had to call his parents
Jordan; My mother said to me you’re gonna go listen, you might not like it, you’re gonna go listen. She made me go on that plane and go listen. Going to that meeting and not wanting to be there, Nike made this big pitch, my father said you got to be a fool to not take this deal
The Internet mocked Adidas for missing out on Jordan.
Adidas blew it with MJ and Bron Bron. Tough scene.
— 🐧✨America Is Musty✨🐧 (@DragonflyJonez) May 4, 2020
Adidas execs hearing Michael Jordan wanted to sign with them #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/F7I8ukQUK9
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) May 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/IsaacKLee/status/1257115969412984833
Adidas almost had him …#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/ES3iaYPHGb
— SB Nation (@SBNation) May 4, 2020