When adidas inked James Harden to an endorsement deal reportedly worth up to $200 million over Bobby Hull Jersey the next 13 years, the partnership raised more than a few eyebrows.It was a bold move by the folks at adidas, because there was no guarantee Harden would be allowed to make the transition. He was under contract with Nike, which had a clause in itsdeal that gave it the right to match any offer Harden received.MORE: |But once Nike declined, Harden was all in with adidas. Lets take a closer look at the reasons why by answering three of this deals biggest questions.Why James Harden?Its rare that an established All-Star becomes available in terms of their ability to change which sneakers they endorse. Most players are signed as rookies, and anyone who becomes an established star like Harden has simply are not allowed to leave.Coming off of an MVP-caliber season, Harden has proven to be one of the games most unstoppable scorers. There are some who knock the way he goes about it, by getting to the free throw line more than any other player in the league. But hes able to finish through contact, shoot 3-pointers at a high percentageand get to Jansen Harkins Jersey the basket at will, all while having the ball in his hands on the vast majority of his teams offensive po se sions.There are a couple of things, when we think about him on court, adidas Basketball GM Chris Grancio said, . One, he has the ball in his hands a lot and hes got a lot of eyes on him every single night. He does the unexpected. Hes got kind of an unusual, herky jerky game, and its a little bit different, frankly, from a lot of the guys that we have in the portfolio today.Weve got some great partners, and if you think about John Wall, Derrick Rose and Damian Lillard, theyre guys that fly up and down the court at full speed. James game is a little bit different, and we like that a lot and think that brings a really nice element to our family, when we think about our core guys that are playing and putting the ball in the basket.MORE: But there was an off-the-court element, too, that made Harden so appealing. He is well known for hisfashion sense, and adidas is a match on that side thanks to its wildly succe sful Originals side of the busine s. Harden will have the opportunity to create clothing and lifestyle editions of footwear that didnt exist for him at Nike, and adidas can market those to a more willing target group of consumers.All of that made Harden well worth the investment in the eyes of adidas.Why didn' Laurie Boschman Jersey t Nike match?In the simplest of terms, Hardens presence didnt mean much to the brands overall roster at least not with the way Nike had currently been using him.In order to justify those kinds of dollars, Nike would have had to make Harden a signature athlete with his own shoe line.Despite how many players around the league you see wearing Nike sneakers, very few actually get the signature treatment.In the companys 42-year history, le s than one percent of its endorsed athletes have been given a signature shoe. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant were the only active signature basketball players on the rosteruntil Kyrie Irving was added last season. If it hadnt happened for Harden yet, it probably wasnt going to hes entering his seventh NBA season, and the brand likes to start much, much earlier because of the time it takes for an athletes signature line to develop and catch on.MORE: Nike had Harden in what could only be described as its C-level basketball sneakers last season. He alternated betweenHyperchase and Run The One throughout the season, which are not considered high-performance shoesand were far from Alexander Burmistrov Jersey the companys best-sellers.Now, the previous summer, when Under Armour came calling under similar circumstances to try to snatch up Kevin Durant, Nike stepped up and matched the 10-year offer worth upwards of $265 million. They did so not only because Durantwas the reigning MVP at the time, but and, with product design typically starting 12-18 months out, an eighth was already on the way. Add in the fact that Durants shoes had found solid footing from a sales perspective, especially among younger consumers, and it was a sound busine s decisionfor Nike to make sure Durant remained in-house.What happens from here?These are exciting times for adidas Basketball.With Rose, Wall, Lillard and now Harden, they have some of the most explosive athletes in the game as part of the brand roster. Its up to the folks on the design side to make sure the sneakers look great and perform at a high level, and though thats been a challenge at times in the past, the Boost technology theyve recently begun to integrate should bring a newly-found sense of optimism.As for Nike, theyll (of course) be just fine. In addition to LeBron, Kobe and KD, Anthony Davis is one of their guys, and hes already viewed by many as being one of the leagues top-three players. They signed the top two picks in this summers draft in DAngelo Ru sell and Karl-Anthony Towns, and theyll take over the NBAs apparel deal from adidas at the start of the 2017-18 Dustin Byfuglien Jersey season.The bottom line is this: The lo s of Harden for Nike isnt nearly as huge as the addition of Harden is foradidas.