James Harden Begins ‘Swag’ Tour With Truckload of adidas

James Harden has been making headlines all summer off the court regarding his lucrative 13-year, $200 million dollar endorsement deal with adidas.

Yet news outlets and social media were more interested in the fact the Houston Rockets shooting guard was still wearing Balenciaga and Air Jordan Nike sneakers. The reality of the situation was Harden was technically still signed with Nike until his new contract kicked in (no pun intended), which starts today: October 1st, 2015.

Coincidentally Harden’s All-Star teammate and Rockets starting center Dwight Howard left the shoe brand this summer to join Tony Parker and George Hill at the new Chinese brand Peak.

To mark the start of his contract adidas released a YouTube video showing Harden receiving a shipment from his new brand:

Video courtesy of adidas.

In addition, adidas P.R. firm released these quotes from their bearded spokesman:

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“Doing what’s expected isn’t enough for me. I’ve taken chances to put myself in a position to be successful and I’m hungry for more. I want to be true to who I am, even if that means taking risks or doing things different from the status quo or what other people expect,” Harden said. “Wanting to be the best – that comes with hard work, focus and making sure I’m always growing my game. It’s a credit to my time in Houston and I’m just trying to enjoy the moment, but I still have to remember how I got here and all the hard work it took.” -Harden

“After meeting with adidas I knew we could create something people won’t see coming. They want to celebrate me for who I am and what I stand for. They want to help me be closer to my fans, tell my story and make incredible product together. This is my chance to do something that can’t be done anywhere else. I think of myself as a creator on the court and I’ve built a game different than any other player in the league. I see an opportunity to become one of the best players in the world – adidas is the partner who will help me get there. I can’t wait to get started.” – Harden

https://twitter.com/nicekicks/status/649696643734867969

Fittingly at the end of the above video Harden yells out “Swag” making me wonder if his recent outing with the boys and subsequent shout of “Swag” was a P.R. stunt or perhaps he was just teasing us regarding what was coming. In any event, Harden will now be full on adidas and will wear Crazylight Boost 2015 in a variety of Houston Rockets colors as per today’s press release.

Overall, I’d say adidas has gained valuable exposure even prior to Harden lacing up his new kicks because they were in the news so much. Moving forward now the brand will have to create exposure from Harden wearing their brand exclusively.

Front page image and video courtesy of adidas.

Next: The Curious Sport Shoe Case of James Harden

Next: Harden Benefiting adidas Wearing Other Brands

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