Derrick Rose and his friends are still making an insane amount of money from Adidas
Knee injuries have derailed Derrick Rose's promising career, but Adidas is still paying him like a superstar
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3 min read
Derrick Rose is but a shell of the MVP-caliber player that he once was and, unfortunately, a heap of injuries somewhat derailed a promising career and took quite a bit of money out of his pocket.
But don't feel too bad for the Cavaliers point guard, as he's still reaping the benefits of a lucrative, superstar-level Adidas contract that he signed in 2012. And he's not the only one.
A piece from Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim this week sheds light on some of the rather absurd details of Rose's contact with the shoe and apparel company. Even though the 29-year-old Rose is on a modest NBA contract (a one-year, $2.1 million deal) and putting up rather modest numbers for Cleveland, he's still making major bucks off the endorsement deal.
The deal called for annual retainers of $12 million per season from 2012–13 until '16–17. (This season, he is entitled to $11 million.) It also included annual royalties of up to $6.25 million per year, as much as $4.8 million in annual appearance fees and use of a private plane. (For comparison, SI has learned that John Wall's new Adidas deal calls for him to be a paid a base salary of $4 million).
In total, the deal was reported to be worth $185 million over 14 years, which is one of the more head-turning endorsements in recent years. But, as Wertheim notes, there were a number of factors working in Rose's favor when his agent negotiated the deal back in 2012.
Not only was Rose coming off an MVP season with the Chicago Bulls, he was also just 22 years old -- the youngest player to win the award in NBA history. He was seemingly positioned to be the new face of the NBA, as LeBron James turned himself into a villain with "The Decision" hoopla, Kobe Bryant was on the downturn of his career, and the league was in search of the next generation of poster boys.
Adidas believed they had their poster boy, so they did what they could to lock him up.
As part of Rose's deal, a few of his closest pals also made out like bandits. Rose's older brother, Reggie, is paid between $250,000 and $300,000 annually as a "consultant." The guard's best friend and assistant, Randall Hampton, makes between $50,000 and $75,000 annually as well. The brand also donates $150,000 annually to an AAU team of Rose's choosing.
Unfortunately for Adidas, just weeks after Rose put pen to paper on the 14-year commitment, he tore his ACL in the first round of the playoffs. It was the start of a series of debilitating knee problems Rose would deal with, and he never returned to form.
So, if you're wondering why Adidas continues to shell out that kind of money to a role player and his buddies, you're not alone -- especially because they've had chances to get out of, or at least minimize, the deal.
Like most endorsement contracts, Rose's calls for reductions and pro-rations. In this case, if Rose fails to make the All-Star team (as he has every year since 2012) or misses more than half the 82 regular-season games (as he did in '12–13 and '13–14 and is on pace to do this season), he can be docked pay. But unlike most contracts, Rose's has clauses nullifying said deductions if he makes various promotional appearances.
What's more, in 2015, Rose—as well as Hampton—was accused of rape by a former girlfriend. (He was never criminally charged.) Though Rose was cleared by a jury in a civil suit, Adidas conceivably could have invoked the morals clause and asserted that the allegations had, as his contract states, "a material adverse effect against the reputation of Adidas." Yet the company chose not to.
Provided with the details of Rose's continued payouts, one longtime sports agent—who has worked with Adidas for decades and thus requested anonymity—expressed surprise: "I've never seen anything like this. The shoe companies are rigorous enforcers [of contracts]. There's a saying: There's always another player and never enough money."
This is all very bizarre and confusing, especially considering there is no shortage of stars in today's NBA that would seemingly be better suited for the investment that Adidas is committing to Rose. And yet, here we are.
Rose is only averaging 0.2 steals per game this season, but let's give him some credit -- a heist is better than a steal.
