As James Harden's Adidas deal is worth a reported $200 million, it makes sense to see the Rockets star go above and beyond to pledge his allegiance to the brand. His latest move in that vein involved defying Nike in a summer basketball game run by the Oregon sportswear brand.
At a Drew League game Harden played in this week, he covered up the Nike logos on his jersey and shorts with black tape. Nike runs the league, so its logos are all over the uniforms and games. The brand did still shout out Harden on the Drew League Instagram account though, with the taped censoring just barely showing in the above image.
@UniWatch @PhilHecken James Harden playing at Drew League (summer pro-am) in LA covering adidas logos on jersey and shorts with tape! pic.twitter.com/fr6jIcMBn9
Harden won't have much of a choice on prominently wearing Nike logos going forward, as the brand is set to take over the NBA apparel deal in the coming season and will outfit all teams and players with its gear. Chances are Harden won't be bringing any tape to those games—unless Adidas wants to start shelling out massive money for fines.
