In 2012, Derrick Rose signed a 14-year $185 million contact with Adidas. It made sense at the time: Rose was 22 and the NBA's reigning MVP.
It doesn't make a lot of sense now, as the gimpy point guard has struggled to stay on the court and struggles to cover anyone when he does play.
Yet, Adidas continues to pay him. Even though they could probably get out of the contract. Sports Illustrated got hold of his deal with Adidas, and it's pretty crazy.
Recently SI obtained his 40-page contract with Adidas, and the document shows just how far shoe companies are willing to go to accommodate an athlete. The deal called for annual retainers of $12 million per season from 2012–13 until ’16–17. (This season, he is entitled to $11 million.) It also included annual royalties of up to $6.25 million per year, as much as $4.8 million in annual appearance fees and use of a private plane. (For comparison, SI has learned that John Wall's new Adidas deal calls for him to be a paid a base salary of $4 million). Reggie Rose, Derrick’s older brother, is paid between $250,000 and $300,000 annually as a consultant. Randall Hampton, Rose’s best friend since sixth grade and his assistant, is paid between $50,000 and $75,000 annually for “consulting” services. Adidas also pledged to contribute $150,000 annually to the AAU team of Rose’s choice.
The contract allows Adidas to dock Rose's pay if he doesn't make the All-Star game (he hasn't since 2012) or if he misses more than half of the games in a season (that happened in 12, 13 and 14.) But, unlike most shoe contracts, Rose can nullify those deductions by making promotional appearances.
Adidas could have terminated the contract in 2015 after Rose and Hampton were accused of gang rape by one of Rose's former girlfriends. Even though Rose was never criminally charged and was cleared by a jury in a civil suit, his ex's ugly accusations and the undisputed details of the case would have been enough to trigger the deal's morals clause. But Adidas decided not to do that and instead kept paying Rose millions to be a very mediocre NBA player.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. The shoe companies are rigorous enforcers [of contracts]. There’s a saying: There’s always another player and never enough money," a long time agent who's worked with Adidas in the past told SI.
We wonder what Rose and his fam have on Adidas?
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