Michael Jordan Wanted To Sign With Adidas, But They Didn’t Even Make Him An Offer

Ever make a mistake and it changes the course of your life? Well take that and times it by a gazillion and you’ll have half the amount of bad judgement that was made by Adidas.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, it documents how Adidas is attempting to be relevant once again after a litany of mistakes that have made the shoe company nearly irrelevant in the United States.

Sara Germano, one of the authors of the story, released an excerpt of the article on her Twitter.

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Hindsight is 20/20, but for fuck’s sake how did a major sneaker company not even bother to make an offer to the best basketball player in the history of the sport especially when he wanted to sign with them? Jordan has said in the past that Adidas was his favorite, but this new report claims that Adidas didn’t even present MJ with an offer.

I just looked up “mismanagement” in the Merriam-Webster and all it said for a definition was “See Adidas.”

Adidas was under the assumption that taller players were the future instead of 6’6″ guards. Yeah because Sam Bowie worked out so well. At least the company corrected their error by signing Arron Afflalo and Iman Shumpert to endorsement deals. Boy oh boy.

On the flip side, Nike’s college hoops guru Sonny Vaccaro believed Jordan could carry the brand and convinced executives to make a huge offer to the incoming NBA rookie. The rest is all Spike Lee commercials, billions of dollars in sales and worldwide domination in the athletic shoe department.

What year do you think the Adidas executive who made this decision to not offer the G.O.A.T. was fired and literally thrown out on the street? Was it in 1988 when Jordan won his first of five NBA MVP’s? Or in 1991 when his Airness won his first NBA championship?

Even though Jordan retired 12 years ago, he still makes $100 million a year from Nike. Sales in the Jordan Brand rose 17 percent last year to an astounding $2.6 billion.

Would the three stripes be the iconic sports logo and premiere sports band if Adidas had signed Michael Jordan in 1984?