{"id":67722,"date":"2026-08-06T09:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T09:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/67722\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T09:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T09:55:10","slug":"lebron-james-once-flexed-his-influence-to-get-heat-player-to-betray-adidas-for-nike-in-one-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/67722\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James once flexed his &#8216;influence&#8217; to get Heat player to betray Adidas for Nike in one day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMWcxajNfc2h3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Follow us on Google Discover <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>One former Miami Heat player\u2019s single meeting with LeBron James made him change allegiances.<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James is currently in the twilight years of his NBA career as he prepares to play for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n<p>With James nearing the silver jubilee in the NBA, it\u2019s obvious that the 41-year-old has developed some major influence.<\/p>\n<p>Be it in the NBA or with Nike, as he has spent his entire career with the iconic sneaker brand. But how much influence does James have within Nike? It was proven by a 2024 revelation from former Miami Heat player Norris Cole.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"679\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-487235101-1024x679.jpg\" alt=\"LeBron James #6 and teammate Norris Cole #30 of the Miami Heat reacts after a play on their way to defeating the Charlotte Bobcats 109-98 in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Time Warner Cable Arena.\" class=\"wp-image-2601986\" \/>Photo by Streeter Lecka\/Getty ImagesNorris Cole once recalled how LeBron James made him switch to Nike from Adidas<\/p>\n<p>During a 2024 appearance on the Club 520 podcast, Cole recalled a story from his Heat days. At the time, Cole was all set to become an Adidas athlete, but just one single meeting with LeBron James led to him betraying the three stripes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked out with Bron a couple times because he\u2019s from Ohio, so I went to the crib. I walked into that man\u2019s house in some D-Rose Adidas, and he looked at me crazy. That\u2019s how I got my Nike deal,\u201d Cole began.<\/p>\n<p> Cole continued, \u201cOne of his homies was like, \u2018Why are you wearing Adidas?\u2019 I said, \u2018Because they\u2019re going to pay me. They\u2019re giving me the contract.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said, \u2018Bro, what are they paying you? Whatever they\u2019re paying you, a guy\u2019s going to call you tomorrow.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Whatever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MORE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS STORIES<\/p>\n<p>What Cole revealed next showed James\u2019 insane influence on the Swoosh brand\u2019s decisions related to NBA athletes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe finished the workout, and a guy from Nike called me the next day and said, \u2018Hey, what do you want for us to switch you over?\u2019 I should have upped it some.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just sent him the straight contract that Adidas gave me, and I switched to Nike the next day. That\u2019s when I realized cats got real influence out here,\u201d Cole concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Considering James is among the faces of Nike, it\u2019s no surprise that the brand was quick to react and offered a contract to Cole. There was nothing Adidas could do, as Cole had no reason to turn down the Swoosh brand.<\/p>\n<p>Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover One former Miami Heat player\u2019s single meeting with LeBron James made him change&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21254],"tags":[21290,32015,50725],"class_list":["post-67722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adidas","tag-adidas","tag-lebron-james","tag-philadelphia-76ers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}