Derrick Rose had emerged, along with Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, as one of the most athletically explosive and acrobatic point guards the National Basketball Association had ever seen —before his 2012 season crashed around him after snapping the ACL in his left knee like a rubber band.
The youngest player to ever win the regular season MVP at age 22, the Chicago Bulls franchise player was still seen as the catalyst to a Bulls team that could scale the formidable fortress in South Beach and unseat the three-time Eastern Conference champ and two-time defending NBA title holders Miami Heat.
Not anymore.
After Rose just suffered a season-ending injury, this time to his right knee that would require arthroscopic surgery, the Bulls players are despondent, his future is uncertain and his $185 million shoe deal with adidas is in disrepair.
Despite playing sparingly since his MVP season, Rose boasted the second-best-selling jersey globally (behind LeBron James) during the 2012–13 season, though he didn’t play in a single game. Rose’s line of shoes, currently headlined by the Rose 4, is one of the most successful in the NBA, generating $40 million in sales in 2012, according to SportsOneSource. Only Kobe Bryant ($50 million in 2012 sales), LeBron James ($300 million), and, of course, Michael Jordan ($2 billion) can boast greater shoe empires.
Adidas, embarrassed by its paltry 5.5 percent of the shoe market compared to Nike’s 90 percent, decided to dole out an exorbitant amount of money to Rose a couple of years ago, paying him more than $20 million a year for more than a decade to reinvigorate the shoe brand. And it was working.
Adidas was certain that Rose would help the shoe giant recover from the market share they squandered due to bad decisions and bad signings. For example:
- They lost out on signing Lebron James in 2003 and signed, instead, fellow high school phenom Sebastian Telfair — a bust.
- They lost out on singing Carmelo Anthony.
- They passed on signing Dwyane Wade for a mere half-million dollars. Bad move.
- They lost their former franchise signee Kobe Bryant due to bad sales and the Laker player’s indictment on rape charges back in 2004. Bad luck.
- Adidas spent big money on Kevin Garnett — a bust.
- They also signed Tim Duncan — a bust.
- They also signed Dwight Howard — a bust.
Big men don’t normally sell shoes in high quantities despite their obvious talent and popularity. Therefore, adidas tried to go with a crop of smaller, more relatable players who have cache with the public.
- John Wall — a bust.
- Ricky Rubio — a bust.
- Damien Lillard — a bust.
Rose was going to reverse the fortunes of the struggling adidas brand — and the plan was working.
And now this.
All is not lost, however. Sales of the D Rose 4 aren’t expected to crash to the floor. The shoes are priced at $140, $20 below last year’s retail price. They are also favorably priced when you compare it to the $200 LeBrons.
But with another season-ending injury to Rose, many pundits are wondering aloud if Rose will ever return to his pre-surgery self again. Adidas is reportedly worried about that issue as well, which is why they will try to recoup some of that $185 million and use it to, perhaps, pick a better NBA endorsee this time.
