LeBron James signed with Nike in 2003, but he almost ended up with Reebok instead.
James said he had three pitches, one from Nike, Reebok and Adidas, during a recent appearance on “New Heights.”
“My senior year, the process began. The recruitments, the Nikes came in and Adidas was still there, Reebok came in, And1, all these companies came in, and I took on three pitches. I did an Adidas pitch, I did a Reebok pitch, I did a Nike pitch. The best pitch that I got, where I thought I was going to end up, was actually Reebok at one point,” James said.
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James said Reebok flew him in, and within their pitch, they showed off their NFL gear.
“I don’t know if you guys remember this, but Reebok had the NFL as well. So they knew my love for football as well, so they had all the NFL jerseys, all the Pro Bowl-looking jerseys that were going to be the next year, and I’m sitting across from the table. I’m a senior in high school, I actually – I’m going back to class the next day. They flew me in. I’m going back to St. Vincent St. Mary the next day, my senior year,” James said.
At the end of the pitch, the Reebok executives gave James a choice.
“The guy slides over the check to me at the end of the table. It’s me and my Mom and Maverick Carter at the end of the table, and he says ‘if you don’t go talk to any other companies, this is yours.’ And I look at it, I look at it, 10 million f—ing dollars.”
“I was a high school senior man; they gave me a check for $10 million and if I promise not to go see anybody else. I told them I need a break. They stepped out, I needed a timeout. I sat there, my mom looked at me, and me and my mom we’re living in an apartment, and you know section A housing in Akron. I’m going back, I don’t have s—, whatever, and my mom looked at me, she said, ‘Son, trust your gut. If they’re offering you this, then who knows what the other companies may offer you.’”
“She’s like, ‘We ain’t got s— already, so it’s not like you know it changes our life at this moment. Yes, maybe in the future, but I want you to trust your gut and do what you think it right.’ So, they came back in. I said thank you, I would definitely like to continue our conversation, but I would be remiss if I did not take those pitches from the other companies. I may have cried on the way home because I had to leave the 10 million.”
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“I was like I could have bought the building that me and my mom was living in with that god—- money.”
While James may have cried on the way home, the decision to turn down Reebok ended up being the right one.
In May 2003, James signed a seven-year, $87 million deal with Nike.
Fast-forward to 2015, James signed a lifetime deal that is worth over $1 billion with Nike. He is Nike’s first ever lifetime athlete.
James said he grew up a Nike guy, but it was not always going to end up being Nike who he signed with.
“It was not always Nike. It was Nike when I was a young kid, when I was a young lad. Obviously, I’ve been in love with Michael Jordan my whole life. I saw him, Penny Hardaway, Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson. I watched all these unbelievable sports figures, so as a kid growing up it was Nike. Once I got into the AAU and started playing basketball, Adidas took us over, and it became Adidas,” James said.
“It was Adidas from seventh, eighth grade to pretty much my junior, senior year, they sponsored us every year. We played in all the Adidas tournaments, big-time tournament in Vegas and all over the United States of America.”
Nike has certainly got their return on investment with James, as he has become one of the best basketball players of all time.
James is currently in his 22nd season in the NBA, playing with the Lakers, and is a guarantee to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer once he retires.
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