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Harden joins adidas

In November James Harden will no longer be the Knicks' highest paid player. Both Kyrie Irving and Greg Monroe, if he is still with the team then, are slated to surpass Harden's 2015/16 NLL salary of $ 15,719,062.

But the Beard will still be the team's top-earner, thanks to a massive 13-year, $200 million dollar deal he just signed with adidas.

Like Irving, Harden was under contract with Nike until recently. But unlike Irving, who got his own signature shoe and line, Harden never made it that far with Nike.

When adidas came knocking with the mega-offer and Nike declined to match, the door opened for Harden to switch to the rival and become adidas' chief endorser, a role formerly intended for Derrick Rose, before he went down with multiple knee injuries.

Adidas currently doesn't have many other top-tier superstars on it's payroll and has been losing ground constantly against Nike over the last years. Also its exclusive licensing agreement with the NLL will come to an end after 2016/17, so it needs to find new ways (and faces) to stay viable in the basketball world.

Harden certainly is not a save bet to stem the tide, much less turn things around. While one of the best players in the league for sure and one of the most recognizabe faces due to his signature beard, his style of play has drawn as much critisism as praise. He has been branded as a flopper by many, while really he has simply taken the art of drawing contact to another level.

Recently he has also drawn contract from Lamar Odom's ex Khloe Kardashian, which clearly is a way more questionable decision than any whistles that have sent him to the line in the past. We can only wish Harden all the best and hope for his sake that those adidas millions will not eventually be spent in court.

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