Adidas is still having nightmares about this.

"If should never be on the dictionary because you'll never see the flip side of that" 1:28

JORDAN is the marketer. Shit it could have been fila. Didnt matter what shoe.

One thing I really admire about Michael Jordan is that he isn't just a famous basketball player. He is a very intelligent and educated man and is a heck of a businessman. Kudos to MJ, who in my opinion is the GOAT.

Whether things worked out the way they were supposed to or not, you can’t deny Nike made the Air Jordan line iconic. They saw what a star MJ was and had the vision to build everything about that shoe, from the design to the marketing, around his whole essence. Anyone who hasn’t seen the movie “Air” about Nike and MJ really should. It’s so inspiring.

Jordan is so likable. I could listen to him talk forever. Such a good communicator.

MICHAEL JORDAN: If should never be in the dictionary cuz you never see the flipside of that. What a gem of a quote

A great quote from MJ in a video about why he didn't sign with Adidas. - "If should never be in the dictionary, cus you'll never see the flip side."

I just watched “air”! Was a good movie. Grew up with MJ and just wish he was more visible with NBA today. That’s my wish, he’s a 🏀 legend!!!

Jordan: Well it's hard to say that 'what if?'. If should never be in the dictionary, because you never see the flip side of that. You sir, are damn right. Fantastic quote. Pure gold.

Respect Jordan. No hard feelings for Adidas. What a true gentlemen!!!

Like i always say...rejection sometimes is a blessing in disguise

I like how MJ always says "the game of basketball" instead of simply "basketball". "I'm going to the park today to play the game of basketball." "My hobbies are reading, gardening, and playing the game of basketball." "For me, the best sport to play is the game of basketball."

Adidas let Jordan walk, Then they didn't pay LeBron. Take this L

MJ is so competitive man, even in marketing. You know he's just trying to be politically correct but deep down, he wants to shout BIGGEST MISTAKE ADIDAS!

MJ would have singlehandedly brought Adidas to bring the number one shoe brand in the world, and other athletes would have followed. An executive brought this up a few years ago, that not endorsing MJ was their biggest mistake.

A very good lesson: NEVER let REJECTIONS affect you. Move on and RISE ABOVE IT. He's right, there is no "if", forget that past, just be thankful now.

Michael Jordan just always been soo fine to me 💯

I just couldn't see the Adidas Air Jordan

What a classy guy he actually went back to Adidas to see if they wanted to match the offer. He must really loved some Adidas.

2:20 "everything worked out for the best." Boy that's a huge understatement. 😁

Great lesson!

" "If" should never be in the dictionary 'cause you'll never see the flip-side of that. "

He always had that killer mentality. Even the word "If" he took personally.

My idol growning up hard working, always pushing himself when you buy his shoes it not for the hell of it, your buying a piece of history and game changer, a movement. Just to watch him play it’s a huge honour.

I love how down to earth Mike is. There’s no fluff or trying to sound smarter than he is. He just worked his ass off and shot straight.

I grew up close to Boston in the 80’s as a big Celtics fan. I feel No player has ever had the impact Michael Jordan did on the game. He was so spectacular in the clutch. The thing yo me that is most impressive is everyone expected him to win multiple championships, MVP’s, etc and he delivered on all of it; even with that pressure.

Love MJ's loyalty

michael jordan is a living legend we should valorate his presence

The way he laughed when he said Adidas 😂😂😂

Eloquent and brilliant man 🙏🏼✨ huge respect for him

To put this into perspective, Jordan signed this deal well before he had ever won a championship. The NBA was actually struggling in the 70s and only started to be on the up again with the magic/bird rivalry. Nike was actually making a huge risk/bet that the NBA was going to continue to grow It's easy to go back and say this or that but it's like investing in Amazon when they were a book company, it took a combination of massive unprecedented success and luck.

Adidas ruins everybody. Sam Bowie (picked before Jordan) , McGrady, Howard, DRose... lol

“If should never be in the dictionary because you never see the flip side of that” and this is why he’s the GOAT.

This reminds me of when Hulk Hogan passed on the George Foreman grill

I believe he says the game of basketball because it helped him keep things into perspective. He would trash talk other players into thinking they were mortal enemies but years later he would reveal the respect he had for his opponents and teammates.

Well right in the beginning Adidas showed they weren’t willing to invest as much and that would’ve very likely continued for an un productive amount of time, and Nike was super hungry and motivated to develop, develop, develop and allowed him to be involved in that as well. Michael definitely made a ton more money through Nike than he ever would’ve with Adidas just for that reason alone 🙏

Michael Jordan, always tempered and elegant. We loved him on the court and love him even more off the court. Big shoes to fill (pun intended).

This guy was IT through out his career. We haven't seen anyone come close to his international star power. And that's before social media.

1:18 "The word if should have never been put into the dictionary." Great line.

Michael Jordon always give EPIC advice, "If should never be in the dictionary because you'll never see the flip side of that."

Who is watching this video after watching AIR movie😄❤

Nike made such amazing Jordans, but also Nike Air Max (bw, 90, 95, 97) are iconic. I'm glad he didn't have an Adidas deal. Nike is the real shit.

The thing is people don’t understand that a HUGE reason why Jordan’s brand grew was because Nike was the first company to give an individual basketball player his own model they also took a huge push to make his name and likeness a brand in its own which Adidas and others like Converse didn’t really care to do even to the established and big names like Larry Bird and Magic, as well as actually taking his input they also didn’t have their own Tinker Hatfield an absolute design genius, Adidas wasn’t going to give Jordan that much freedom and like Jordan said we’ll never really know but it’s more likely he doesn’t get the massive brand he has today, as a big fan of his shoes I’m happy his mom pushed him to actually even attend the meeting with Nike and take up their offer

This is why this man is one of my favorite people in the world. It's not just his exceptional skills as a basketball player but his intelligence on understanding the essentials of knowing that he dictates the product and not vice versa.

Wow if MJ went with Adidas. Nike will be dead.

Top ten corporate mistakes in sports of all time.

It's so stupid how there are people who are solidly one brand or another, unless they are contracted professional atheletes. They all make quality gear. I could wear my nike shirt with Adidas shorts and a pair of reeboks, and they all are fine. why does there need to be a brand war?

He didn’t want to bad mouth Addidas because there could have been a future relationship with a big company like that. That was smart of him. Also, Addidas rejecting MJ Like that is like the same thing when Microsoft executives scuffed at the iPhone in 2007 thinking it wouldn’t be successful

Jordan is extremely likeable, well-spoken, intelligent, respectful and doesn't throw anyone (e.g., Adidas) under the bus. Much props to MJ! He's the consummate superstar in my book. His decision in 1984 has made: Nike the #1 shoe company in the world (2x Adidas), and Nike the #2 apparel company in the world.

They should make a movie about this

damn near a billion dollars later. ha ha haa adidas

Who's here after watching AIR?

Back in the early 80's, being primarily a European brand, Adidas focused solely on soccer. The mentality was athletes wore the shoes that the shoes company made. It was unthinkable that they would create a new brand of shoes with individual name and likeness of an athlete. Jordan, as far as I know, was the first athlete whose name and logo were used on the shoes, hence "Air Jordan". It was a revolutionary concept that only Jordan could do.

Even if Adidas gotten Jordan, it’s just ain’t gonna be the same. There’s something about Nike X Jordan combo that can never duplicated.

Whoever that guy was at Adidas that decided not to sign Jordan is THE biggest mistake of his life.

The Jordan deal changed Nike's fortunes forever from being mostly focused on runners as they were at the time. It was like Apple getting Steve Jobs back. Adidas blew that one that way that GM blew not buying Toyota.

I'm glad the guy ended up with Nike. Now the Jordan brand is legendary.

The perfect epilogue to Batflecks' new movie haha

They should make a movie about this 🙃

Adidas choked!

Who's here after watching AIR 2023

It's like he said, Adidas is mainly foreign for soccer players. Adidas has a different target market. And think about it, Jordan is just a US brand for the most part. Adidas has the world for soccer; just as much money there.

That's a true endorser for you. Honest. He said he never wore Nike until they gave him a contract, he always wore converse, and adidas was his favorite shoes.

You fucked up Adidas you fucked up.

I just watched that Matt Damon Ben Affleck movie about this. Of course they made it all about his super smart and business savvy mom and gave Mike little agency in the decision, but it was still a great movie from the standpoint of where Nike was before and after and how they were a running show company that put there whole basketball shoe budget behind Jordan instead of hedging their bet by offering smaller amounts to multiple players. I recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.

I loved wearing the big blocky Adidas shoes in High School, but now FILA has the sweetest shoes out there!

Jordan should thank his ACL and MCL's he didn't sign with Adidas. It seems like most players that wear Adidas have problems in their lower extremities. Also lets not forgot Nike making a huge mistake not signing Steph Curry. I know its not as big as Mike, but it still was a huge loss.

MJ = GOAT

Adidas been punching the AIR all these years

No way Adidas could have marketed Jordan like Nike. Those commercials were next level magic. I dare you to watch the “Like Mike” commercial and not get tingles.

Adidas signed Sam Bowie instead

Humble, well spoken, intelligent, hard working, and the BEST Basketball player EVER!! Enjoyed every sec that man was playing Basketball on and off the court!

He is so well spoken 😊

It's a pure joy listening to this man speak, he is clearly very intelligent and humble.

Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player but that won't sell shoes that much of they are ugly... The biggest mistake Adidas made was not signing tinker hatfield the designer of the best looking sneakers ever to the air jordan 3's all through the air jordan 14's lol he is an actual painting artist & an architect

Imagine had he gone with Adidas, No Air Jordans, the world would be that much different

Adidas punching the air like trey rn 😂😂😂

There's no way Adidas would have made anything as iconic as the Jordan retro. He made the right choice

ADIDAS is focused on the KING of sports FOOTBALL (soccer), seen by 90% of the world. Basketball is seen only by less than 10% in the world.

I bet someone got fired for not making that Adidas/Jordan deal happen

14 years later see a jordan interview, good boy youtube.

Just finished watching the movie "Air" .... wow great movie!!! Great story!!

I came here after have watched “ AIR”

I wonder where the person who made the final decided not to fully back Michael Jordan at Adidas is now.

I'd love to see this full interview. What is it from?

It NEVER would have been the same if was Adidas. Everything would have been different, even the iconic logo. What people fail to realize is it takes collaboration and geniuses like MJ's agent David Falk who pioneered the modern day NBA shoe deal, to Nike designers like Tinker, to build a brand. MJ would have still been a multiple champion but as far as the Jordan Brand, it wouldn't have been as iconic. Adidas had different people, different creative direction.

people should not talk about how if jordan went with adidas, adidas would have done good because adidas did not have Tinker Hatfield. the shoes wouldn't look the same and when you not know how famous the would be or if the would be a jordan line under adidas at all.

Doesn't really matter, its not like adidas went bankrupt or else we really would be making it a what if. Jordan wasn't already jordan when they offered their contract so they didn't see it worth it which is understandable. Either way both nike and adidas are still top two apparel brands. Adidas still does alot of college sports, soccer, track & really good performance clothes so I doubt they even dwell on it as much as us nike do, well other nike fans do because I don't lol

Sick interview background

I watched the movie "AIR" because of this interview

i only like adidas for derrick rose but tbh Nike is better

Air was a great movie. His mother had his back ! Hell , she wrote that nike contract herself !

Whoever was in charge at Adidas must have ended like Orlando Bloom in that Elizabeth Town movie

I just finished watching the movie Air, and I had no idea about basketball before watching it. But I was really inspired by Matt Damon's performance as Sonny Vaccaro in the Nike presentation. He made a great point about how shoes are just shoes until someone steps in and makes them special

You all forget Adidas is European, Nike is American. Adidas were probably more concerned with football(soccer) and didn't really care much for the NBA at the time also the fact that the world never knew of MJs potential then. Still IMO Nike is more good at marketing and has style but are way too money whorish while Adidas make better quality products for more affordable prices even if their innovation is slightly behind. p.s. REEBOK BACK!! jk.

im glad he went with the american company

Jordon´s comment concerning the word if is very insightful. I might even start using it myself!

Loool, this laugh in the beginning :D

Ultra Boost Jordan