Nike Marketing Executive Sonny Vaccaro once convincing Nike to go all-in on Michael Jordan will stay a turning point in the sneaker world. Something that Adidas, if it does not, definitely should regret not doing. Especially when MJ himself was interested in the brand. But the German brand got a second chance to change the game with Kobe Bryant.

Appearing on 11Alive Peach Bowl Inc. CEO and former Adidas employee Gary Stokan recalled how he left Adidas after the company failed to sign Mike. This was despite the fact he had Mike ready to sign with the brand.

Notably, Nike had offered MJ a $500,000/year deal for 5 years, including 5% royalties, and his own line of sneakers. However, Michael Jordan still re-approached Adidas to give them a chance to at least come close to the offer, considering Stokan had previously invested some time in him and formed a little connection. However, stating financial constraints, the German brand did not go through with it.

In the subsequent events, Stokan joined Converse, later formed his own sports marketing company, and then even sold it. After all of this, Stokan returned to Adidas once the company signed Kobe Bryant. The Peach Bowl Inc. CEO further recalled going in for Adidas’ budget meeting with his staff after Bryant had signed. And the global marketing campaign had concluded.

“There’s about 15 of us walk in the boardroom and I said, gentlemen, we’re at war with Nike… We had stole five market share points because Kobe’s launch was so successful,” Stokan revealed on 11Alive. But that wasn’t all.

He further outlined everything Adidas needed to win, but the German brand was more interested in investing in running. The company made it clear to Stokan that it did not have that kind of money to put in basketball. Although it made some sense to Gary as running was gaining popularity, he realized Adidas was failing to understand that shoe wars in the US will be determined by basketball.

“And so they didn’t give us the money we needed. And ultimately, I wound up leaving Adidas second time,” he said. It’s clear Adidas has not had much success in handling NBA superstars.

Why did Kobe Bryant leave Adidas?

You would expect a company to learn from its mistakes after losing a player like Michael Jordan, who later made billions with Nike. But leave it to Adidas for mis-managing the next big thing in the NBA despite the initial success with him. Notably, Bryant’s first few sneakers with the German brand — KB8 and KB8 II — were quite successful.

However, The Kobe sneakers that came out in 2000 left the fans split in their opinion, that too only because the LA Lakers icon won his first championship in the shoes. But The Kobe II that came out in 2001 not only disappointed just the fans but Black Mamba himself. As per the reports, Adidas did not allow much of a say to Bryant in the design of his own sneakers. And anyone who knows the 5x NBA champ would know that he can tolerate anything but mediocrity.

No wonder that the 18x All Star himself paid $8 million to get out of the deal with Adidas. Following in his NBA idol Michael Jordan’s footsteps, even Kobe signed with Nike.

And even after that Black Mamba passed away, The Kobe Bryant Estate reached an agreement with Nike, as per which, the brand would continue producing both footwear and apparel from Bryant’s Zoom Kobe series. In the basketball scenario at least, it’s clear that Adidas lost the war with Nike that Gary Stokan had once declared.