Kobe Bryant sits inside a bigger Adidas push: Mikel Brown Jr. reached the NBA with a brand relationship already built from high school, then walked into Tuesday’s NBA draft as a sixth overall pick by the Brooklyn Nets. The move shows how early Adidas is working, with rookies arriving already familiar with the business side of the sport.
Mikel Brown Jr. and Adidas NIL
Brown entered the league with an Adidas NIL deal that started when he was 17 in the Overtime Elite league. He also arrives with his own Adidas-sponsored AAU program, relationships with active All-Stars such as Donovan Mitchell, and an audience of more than 84,000 followers across Instagram and Twitch.
He said, “The NIL process helped me learn there’s so much more to the business of basketball.” Brown also said, “To chop it up with guys who have actually walked this path and built their own signature lines is invaluable.”
Darryn Peterson in Adidas
Darryn Peterson gives the same pipeline a second, sharper example. He was selected second overall by the Utah Jazz after Adidas signed him in 2023 as an underclassman in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and he had been with Adidas since age 16.
Before the draft, Peterson had already starred in brand campaigns and had his own apparel offerings sold on Adidas’ webstore. Adidas-backed programs also let him endorse products on the court no differently than players already in the NBA, a head start that changes what a rookie brings into a locker room and a marketing meeting at the same time.
Adidas flips the model
Cam Mason, Adidas Basketball’s head of sports marketing, said, “By the time our athletes walk across the draft stage, they know our designers, our culture marketing leads and our vets within the brand ecosystem.” He also said, “We’re invested in their journey,” adding, “The old model of sports marketing was transactional: You wait for a kid to get drafted and shoot a commercial.”
“We flipped that,” Mason said, and the proof is in the two rookies who reached the NBA with brand history already in place. Nick DePaula said Peterson signed a long-term extension with Adidas, and Adidas plans to use him as a headliner for the next generation of the brand. Peterson said, “Having a brand like Adidas put that belief in you before you even touch an NBA floor? It just gives you that extra chip on your shoulder to go out there and prove them right every single night.”
