In the game against the Pacers on the 14th, Kevin Durant played 42 minutes and scored 38 points - a total of 2,500 points in a single season. As a result of his outstanding performances this season, more and more people are comparing Durant to Jordan. Although it is close to Jordan in terms of court statistics, Durant still has an all-round gap with the "God of Basketball" in terms of commercial value and income. According to Forbes, $75 million of Michael Jordan's $90 million personal income in 2013 came from a share of the sales of sneakers that bear his name. In terms of sales last year, Durant's basketball shoes were a fraction of Jordan's. Now let's talk about the stories of the "feet" of these big-name stars in the NBA.

Speaking of data, Durant is less than a fraction of "Master Joe".

For NBA stars, compared to the real NBA arena, the sneaker endorsement game that relies on popularity and commercial packaging PK is undoubtedly the second battlefield of their secret competition: who has the biggest endorsement contract? Whose signature shoes have the most advanced technology? Who is most privileged with the sponsors? In this kind of secret competition, some people become big winners, but more often there are indignant frustrated losers.

According to Forbes, in 2013, Jordan's sneakers sold $2.25 billion in the U.S., more than James ($300 million), Durant ($175 million), Kobe Bryant ($50 million), Rose ($40 million) and Howard ($5 million) combined.

Although he has retired, the influence of "Flyer" in the basketball world is still unmatched. In 2013, he was named the "Most Popular Athlete" by ESPN, and on Facebook, he has 25 million followers, the most of any athlete in the United States. For every two pairs of basketball shoes sold in the United States, one pair is the Jordan brand. Last year, sales of Jordan's sneakers in the U.S. increased 11 percent from 2012, and the brand's total annual sales were $26 billion, and Jordan could get paid about $75 million from that money.

Although Jordan and the brand company had some problems due to some reasons, he really made a lot of money through shoes over the years.

said that the grievance "big man doesn't sell shoes" suffers a lot of people

As we all know, in the rules of the NBA's sneaker endorsement game, "big men don't sell shoes" has long been a golden rule, because in the eyes of brand manufacturers, interior players basically lack idol temperament, and it is difficult for ordinary consumers to buy their sneakers. So the most shabby sneaker contracts tend to be interior superstars, such as Karl Malone, who has barely been awarded a decent shoe contract and has only been able to wear a few second- or third-rate sneakers for most of his career. The most shabby thing is that at one point he even had to pay for his own shoes to wear.

Early in his career, Malone mainly wore the veteran sneaker Converse. Although Converse's influence in the NBA at that time was turning from prosperity to decline, they still refused to believe in Malone's influence, and just gave Malonea pair of sneakers and a sponsorship fee that was better than nothing. And when Malone gradually sat on the throne of the No. 1 striker in the West and hoped that Converse could increase endorsement funds, Converse announced the termination of the contract with Malone without thinking.

After breaking up with Converse, Malone struggled to find a new sneaker contract and finally had to accept a contract from a niche brand, Laguerre. With Laguerre's exit from the NBA market in the mid-90s, Malone, who had no shoes to wear, had to buy shoes at his own expense.

In a sense, Yao Ming is also a frustrated sneaker war. In the CBA, Yao Ming signed a four-year, $200,000 contract with his sponsor at the time, and by 2003, when the two sides began contract renewal negotiations, the other party only offered a four-year, $1.6 million contract. This made Yao Ming very dissatisfied, because LeBron James, who had only entered the league at the time, got a seven-year, $90 million contract.

Yao Ming turned to Reebok to make contact. After the previous sponsor realized that Yao Ming was enraged, they immediately offered a 7-year, $120 million contract extension (the total contract amount is LeBron's full + 2/3 Kobe Bryant's contract amount) in an attempt to save Yao Ming's heart. But Yao Ming flatly refused and signed a seven-year contract of only $50 million with Reebok.

Unspoken Rules: Sneakers determine the national team roster

The power of sneaker sponsors is so great that it has even influenced the roster of the American Dream Team.

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the American Dream Team, which was full of NBA stars, won the gold medal in the men's basketball game without any suspense, but at the final medal ceremony, they did not come out for half a day, which made Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Committee at the time, very angry. Later, everyone learned that this was because of the brand conflict between the medal uniforms used by the US Olympic team and the sneaker sponsors of several NBA stars.

Many people don't understand why the 1992 Dream Team didn't choose O'Neal and brought Lightner instead? In fact, sponsors play a role behind this. Leitner has been the face of a sponsor since college, and the NBA wants the sponsor to get Pippen and Barkley on the line, and the sponsor offers to bring Lightner in exchange.

After the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the United States Basketball Association signed a four-year contract with Reebok, but the sponsors of Kobe Bryant and other stars at that time strictly limited the number of their stars to participate in the national team, so the 2002 "Dream Five" can be called the worst in history, and the fifth place record is the worst record of the United States team in the World Championships.

For the same reason, the "Dream Six Team" did not have any big names to participate in the battle, and they also returned home. It wasn't until after 2004 that the American Basketball Association signed a contract with a previously star-studded sponsor to ensure the quality of the team and the results of the Dream Team.

Small sneakers, even the roster and results of the national team can be affected!

(Huang Wei)