The NBA sneaker world has long been ruled by Nike, but imagine how different things could have been for Adidas if they hadn’t made two massive mistakes. Maybe, just maybe, the spotlight could have been theirs. Confused?

Let’s rewind to 1984—the year Adidas fumbled the biggest signing in basketball history. They had the golden opportunity to sign Michael Jordan, but they passed. That single misstep paved the way for Nike to create the Air Jordan empire, a move that forever altered the sneaker industry.

But Adidas wasn’t out of chances just yet. Fast forward to 2003, and they had a shot at redemption with the next generational talent—LeBron James. And what did they do? Lost him too. Not only did they miss out on the deal, but they also damaged their credibility in the process.

On The Hoop Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst sat down with renowned NBA author Armen Keteyian to chat about his latest book, Legends and Soles: The Memoir of an American Original. The book dives into the life of Sonny Vaccaro—the sports marketing mastermind who, in case you didn’t know, was the driving force behind Adidas’ offer to LeBron. Naturally, Windy was curious to talk about that failed deal, The Betrayal In Malibu as mentioned by Armen in the book, before anything else.

“It’s May 10th, 2003, and they’re out there. They’ve spent months putting this presentation together—just boom, boom, boom, boom—and everything’s going great, until the moment where Sonny opens up the proposal, looks down, and sees the number $70 million, not $100 million. $70 million,” the author narrated the incident. “And a lot of legal language that says… LeBron had to meet their expectations, rather than Adidas meeting LeBron’s expectations.”

Armen cited this as the reason why Sonny didn’t continue with the now $46 billion company. “I think in Sonny Vaccaro’s life, it was the greatest disappointment. That’s the reason he left Adidas, because he thought he had been lied to. Not thought. He knew he had been lied to,” he added. But why did the change in numbers have such a big impact on Sonny that he felt betrayed? Let’s dive into more details.

Sonny Vaccaro opened up about what happened with the LeBron James’ Adidas deal

Sonny spoke about how he confirmed the $100 million offer to young LeBron James and his mother, Gloria on ESPN’s “30 for 30” Sole Man documentary. Even Adidas had agreed to that offer, with just the legal documents left to sign.

This all went down during a tournament in LeBron’s senior year. “I made a statement – not an offer – a statement to the James team: ‘LeBron, Gloria, when your son signs, he’s going to get $100 million.'” Sonny explained. He wanted to ensure that their focus was entirely on the brand. The $100 million offer was a game-changer. Even Kobe Bryant, with his three championship trophies, didn’t receive that kind of deal then. Sonny was serious about making this happen with LeBron.

The next step for Sonny was to head straight to brand’s headquarters to reconfirm the amount. “I go to Adidas to see the president. The only thing I gave a damn about was $100 million. They agreed,” Sonny recalled. Everything was falling into place. It almost seemed like the deal was locked in.

Gloria James stood by LeBron’s side as he stepped into what was supposed to be a game-changing moment—signing with Adidas at a lavish Malibu mansion. Everything felt perfect until they saw the numbers. The guaranteed $10 million per year they were promised? It had suddenly dropped to just $7 million. Sure, there were perks and incentives that could push the total closer to $10 million, but none of it was set in stone.

It was still a huge offer for the rising superstar, but it wasn’t what they had agreed on—and that changed everything.

Sonny immediately knew it was the “dumbest single mistake anybody ever made in the history of negotiating.” The brand didn’t just lose LeBron, they lost Sonny, too. He just couldn’t accept the betrayal. It was supposed to be a game-changing deal for both parties, but instead but it ended up being a major turning point. Armen Keteyian’s book will surely elaborate on these details; get your copy now! It has just hit the shelves!