Washington Wizards’ John Wall Declined $7.5 Million From Adidas

Washington Wizards’ John Wall Declined $7.5 Million from Adidas

I’m not a sneakerhead nor will I ever be. I never understood the fascination with spending hundreds of dollars on basketball sneakers, especially if you don’t play the sport. But, I have friends who love sneakers and sneakers are able to be sold for hundreds of dollars because there’s a market for it.

NBA players make a ton of money from playing basketball, but they also make a large chunk of their change from endorsements and sponsorships. The players with big endorsements — LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and even Kyrie Irving — get the exposure that their peers don’t.

Washington Wizards star John Wall is just as good as some of the players with top endorsements, but hasn’t gotten nearly as much recognition. There’s a reason why Kyrie Irving is regarded as a top point guard, despite being in the third tier.

(Here’s an explanation, for those who will definitely ask for it: Stephen Curry is in his own tier. Then you get Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, John Wall and Damian Lillard.)

Wall has had some endorsements that other players dream about, but for a player of his caliber, it’s a shame that he’s not even considered to be the face of a company. Wall is a perennial All-Star, and perhaps more importantly, he keeps a squeaky clean image off the court. Really, he’s the perfect face for an organization.

After he entered the league, Wall signed a deal with Reebok. When was the last time you’ve seen anyone wearing Reebok? It wasn’t a hit, to say the least. A few years later, Wall entered a partnership with Adidas and got some more exposure. He got multiple signature shoes and apparel, as Keely Diven pointed out.

Now that he’s considered one of the top 15 or so players in the NBA, Wall looked to get a big-money deal after his contract with Adidas expired. James Harden agreed to a $200 million deal with Adidas recently and Wall expected a similar type of contract. Of course, he didn’t get it, which later led to Wall parting ways with his agent Dan Fegan.

According to The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports, Wall turned down over $7 million from Adidas, even though his past signature sneakers and apparel weren’t flying off the shelves:

"Regardless, adidas made Wall and his agent at the time, Dan Fegan, what many around the industry considered to be an incredibly generous final offer: $7.5 million per year and the continuation of his signature shoe and apparel collection. Wall simply passed on the deal."

Wall is currently rockin’ Nike sneakers on the court after signing with LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul.

As I mentioned before: I don’t know much about sneakers nor the industry, so all I can do is speculate.

Based on the report, it looks like Wall will either land with Nike or its sister company Jordan Brand. Obviously, both look fantastic on the surface, but it’s not guaranteed that Wall will ever get another signature sneaker again. When you look around the league, only a handful of NBA players have their own sneakers.

Wall will probably wait until the summer to sign with a sneaker company. Personally, I’d like to see him create his own Sketcher basketball sneaker, or rock the first Uggs on the court.

Next: Wall and the Wizards are Refusing to Tank

The Washington Wizards’ star is going to have options. I’m sure other companies, like Li-Ning, would love to have him on-board. For some reason, though, I think it would be super cool to see Wall play in Jordan’s.