Adidas Basketball added eight more members to its 2016 rookie class, continuing to ramp up its signing of professional athletes across sports.
The new additions are: Thon Maker of the Milwaukee Bucks, Taurean Prince of the Atlanta Hawks, Wade Baldwin of the Memphis Grizzlies, DeAndre Bembry of the Atlanta Hawks, Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Lakers, Cheick Diallo of the New Orleans Pelicans, Patrick McCaw of the Golden State Warriors and Isaiah Cousins of the Sacramento Kings.
In June, Adidas announced it signed five players from the 2016 NBA Draft, a list led by Brandon Ingram of the Los Angeles Lakers, the No. 2 overall draft pick. Aside from Ingram, deals were signed for Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, Dragan Bender of the Phoenix Suns, Kris Dunn of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets.
The moves come as Adidas has announced to sign up to 250 NFL as well as MLB players as well as significantly more NBA players. It also comes as Nike replaced Adidas as the NFL exclusive provider of onfield apparel starting in 2012 and will replace Adidas as the NBA’s outfitter starting in the 2017-2018 season.
Last year, Adidas signed three picks in the NBA Draft: Justise Winslow, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Terry Rozier. In the 2014 draft, the brand signed four of the six top picks, including No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins, No. 3 pick Joel Embiid, No. 5 pick Danté Exum and No. 6 pick Marcus Smart. It has signature shoes under Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard, John Wall and James Harden.
Of the 2016 NBA Draft signees, seven will stop by the Adidas Village in Portland, OR on Thursday for a brand welcome. Ingram, Brown, Murray, Maker, Prince, Baldwin and McCaw will join Adidas employees for a hot shot skills challenge and meet-and-greet.
“I chose Adidas to be different. Everybody wants to wear the same brands but at the end of the day, I want to set the tone. I’d rather form a bond and get to the top together than go where everyone else goes,” said Taurean Prince. “Being with these other rookies is like growing up with your brother with those dreams to do something great. Once you’re able to accomplish that – it’s like it was meant to be.”
“It truly means a lot to be a part of Adidas, and we’re just going through this journey together,” Brandon Ingram added. “The group that I’m with today – it’s just a lot of high character guys. So this new wave, all of the product and everything that’s coming is really just going to take things over.”
The rookies will play a role in contributing performance insights to create footwear and apparel. They will also be featured in upcoming brand campaigns, activations and global tours.
Photo courtesy Adidas
