Michael Jordan's Son Explains How He Pissed Off Adidas and Lost His School's Sponsorship

The saga of UCF, Jordan, and the Three Stripes.

Marcus Jordan
Image via Marcus Jordan
Marcus Jordan

Remember that time Michael Jordan's son Marcus wore the wrong pair of sneakers and cost his college its endorsement deal? Complex caught up with the younger Jordan to get the details on how it all went down in a new interview.

The move that led to the endorsement getting pulled was his wearing a pair of Jordan 12s in a preseason game, a no-no considering the school he played for (University of Central Florida) was sponsored by adidas at the time.

According to him, the school was OK with his decision to wear Air Jordans, but adidas' higher-ups were not.

"But when it got to adidas in Germany, the higher ups, it didn’t sit well with them," Jordan says. "They told everyone back in the States—or at least the regional people that my school was dealing with—everyone was going to have to wear adidas or they were going to drop the school."

They did indeed drop the school. In fact, Jordan learned about the decision in the middle of a game.

"In one of the time outs during the game, one of my coaches at the time let me know, 'Hey, yeah, adidas dropped the school.' I just couldn't believe it."

Read about adidas' decision and how Nike eventually ended up signing the school afterward here.