Nike has won the bidding war for the heart and soul of Kevin Durant, reestablishing themselves as the most powerful shoe company — and the biggest corporate force in basketball, as if there was any doubt..
Nike, which had the right of first refusal in any contract negotiations, matched the 10-year, $285 million offer Under Armour offered to the 6-10 All Pro forward from Oklahoma City a lucrative opportunity to switch loyalties.
The ldeal was completed when Nike officials met with Durant and his representatives at Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports last weekend..
“Excited and humbled to re-sign with the Swoosh,” Durant tweeted.
Based on the ESPN report, Durant stands to make more money from Nike over the next two years than the $41.2 million the Thunder will owe him
during that span.
Nike may or may not directly bring in the amount of revenue it spent to keep Durant but he does represent the continuation of a line of the best players in the world: Jordan, LeBron and Durant, who is the league’s reigning MVP.
If James is the current face of USA basketball in the global market place, the 25-year old Durant is definitely the future. He was the MVP of the 2010 World Championships in Istanbul and was the leading scorer for TEAM USA when it won a second straight gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
When ‘Durant declared for the NBA draft after just one season at Texas in 2007, Nike signed him to a $60 million dollar deal. Another shoe company reportedly offered more, but Durant chose Nke because he preferred the brand.
Under Armour, the aggressive clothing and accessories manufacturer from Baltimore, has been trying to make inroads into the lucrative basketball shoe market, now dominated by Nike. It scored a some early success against its biggest rival this year when it lured Golden State All-Star guard Stephen Curry from Nike. Under Armour threw in all kinds of incentives at Durant, including stock options, royalties. and a reportedly included a job for Durant’s son with the firm when he grew up that would reportedly pay him $500,000.
But Nike wasn’t about to let one of their brightest stars go to the company that represents their biggest threat.
While Durant may or may not directly bring in the amount of revenue that Nike spent to keep him (though he might), he does represent the continuation of Nike having the best players in the world: Jordan, LeBron and the reigning MVP.
Durant, whose contract was set to become a free agent when his contract ran out this month, considered the Under Armour’s offer for two weeks. But he apparently came to the realization no one can market his brand better than Nike, which has a marketing arm that is second to none when it comes to designing shoes and promoting its stars with creative TV commercials,
