Lionel Messi Wearing a Derrick Rose Jersey: An Adidas Conspiracy?
By Ty Duffy
Lionel Messi was out walking his dog yesterday. He was wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey and Chicago Bulls shorts. First reaction: the poor guy probably hasn’t heard about the Derrick Rose trade. But, let’s dive a bit deeper.
Messi is the second member of our Top 10 soccer players in the world list spotted out and about wearing head to toe NBA gear. Paul Pogba went LeBron “full-kit wanker” to play some pick-up ball on vacation in Miami. Coincidence? Maybe. But, let’s keep going with this.
The NBA’s uniform sponsor through 2016-17 is Adidas. In the first photograph we have Messi, sponsored by Adidas, wearing a Derrick Rose, sponsored by Adidas, jersey. The two are Adidas’ two biggest athlete contracts.
Then we have Pogba who signed with Adidas in March and is now moving to Adidas-sponsored Manchester United. He’s wearing the jersey of Nike’s biggest active athlete, LeBron James, which is still made by Adidas.
Social media coincidence? Or Adidas savvily using its biggest stars to promote wearing tank top NBA jerseys in public to maximize sales during the last year of its sponsorship deal? Sales of tank top jerseys has been a concern for Adidas, which has been pushing hard on the sleeved jerseys.
While we’re down this rabbit hole, perhaps LeBron, again Nike’s biggest athlete, ripping the Adidas sleeved jerseys during a game was more than a moment of temporary frustration with the permitted range of motion.