adidas and Sebastian Telfair have announced they have inked a six-year guaranteed endorsement deal reportedly worth $1 million to $2 million per year. Telfair, the 2003-2004 New York City Player of the Year, also announced that he would forgo college and was entering the NBA Draft on June 24, 2004.
Telfair, who will become the first point guard in the history of the NBA to make the jump from high school directly to the NBA has earned a number of awards throughout his outstanding high school career: 2003-2004 New York City Player of the Year, 2004 SLAM High School Team All-American First Team (repeat selection from 2003), 2004 USA TODAY's All-USA First Team, 2004 McDonald's All-American and 2004 adidas/EA Sports All-Superstar Team. He has also appeared in a number of national articles through out his career, most recently an ongoing feature in ESPN the Magazine and the cover story in the March 8, 2004 Sports Illustrated. Telfair also led his team to the New York City PSAL Championship, Telfair averaged 33.2 points and 9.2 assists per game during his senior season. Throughout his outstanding high school career Telfair has played in 125 varsity games and in those games averaged 27.2 points per game, shot 48.5% from the field and 37.7% from behind the arch and dished out 7.4 assists per game.
“The future of the NBA is defined by talented young players like Sebastian Telfair,” stated Erich Stamminger, President and CEO of adidas America. “adidas is clearly focused on having the best players and creating the most innovative performance product paired with cutting-edge design. This combination is generating strong momentum in our basketball business which we expect to continue with the addition of future stars like Sebastian Telfair.”
“After playing for an adidas sponsored summer team in high school and participating in a variety of adidas camps it is exciting for me to be able to continue my relationship with adidas,” said Sebastian Telfair. “adidas is dedicated to growing their basketball business and I am looking forward to playing a very active role in that future growth.”
