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College Basketball Player With Adidas NIL Deal Called Out For Showing Love To Nike Instead

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Saniya Rivers Nike Store
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Saniya Rivers forgot that North Carolina State is an Adidas school. She was really excited to go to the Nike store.

Head coach West Moore had to do damage control on behalf of the company’s official apparel partner!

Rivers, a guard in her second year with the Wolfpack, scored 20 points with six rebounds against Tennessee on Monday. Her huge stuff block in the closing moments sealed a win and sent N.C. State women’s basketball into the Sweet 16.

As a result of the strong performance, Saniya Rivers was one of the players invited to represent her team in the postgame press conference. She was pumped!

However, in her excitement, the junior completely forgot who helps pay the bills.

The Wolfpack will play the next round of March Madness in Portland. A reporter asked Rivers if she has ever been.

She has not and had one request for the trip.

No! But I hope coach lets us go to the Nike outlet—

— Saniya Rivers

Moore cut her off.

Nike!

— Wes Moore

Rivers quickly backtracked with a smile.

Oh woops… maybe just window shop.

— Saniya Rivers

That is not going to happen on Moore’s watch!

I promise we will go to the Adidas outlet and not the other outlet.

— Wes Moore

Not only does N.C. State wear Adidas uniforms, Rivers also has an NIL deal with the three stripes.

Rivers’ excitement to check out the Nike store was harmless and her comments were accidental. They provided a very funny, candid moment that inspired a good laugh among those in the room.

At the same time, they were antithetical to her business dealings— which is never ideal. You never want to bite the hand that feeds you! Adidas probably didn’t love that she announced her true feelings about apparel to the entire world, but it’s nothing that won’t blow over after a day or two. No big deal!

In some ways, there is an element of “all press is good press” here and having a viral moment like this gets people talking. On the flip side, an athlete with multiple ties to Adidas is more excited about Nike.