The events that transpired this week with James Harden were not exactly conducive to Adidas’ marketing strategy.
Adidas posted a tweet about Harden, who is one of their signature athletes, on Friday after the former MVP was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. The tweet was a video of Harden discussing his leadership qualities, specifically about making sure that the people around him “know that I got their back.”
Of course, Harden has not seemed very leaderlike lately since he appeared to quit on the Brooklyn Nets before getting traded. Adidas got roasted for the tweet accordingly and eventually deleted it. Take a look at the video.
New Harden ad….Adidas knew they missed so bad with this they took it down 😂 pic.twitter.com/Qh0A6RkNUe
— HTB ♨️ (@HenryTheBlasian) February 11, 2022
Adidas still has several other videos of Harden promoting his new sneaker, so it looks like they just deleted the tweet of Harden discussing leadership.
@JHarden13 on Creativity.#HardenVol6 coming soon. pic.twitter.com/Pn5emYh2v0
— adidas Basketball (@adidasHoops) February 11, 2022
Harden is definitely not one to be talking about having anybody’s back right now. Reports emerged this week that Harden had misled the Nets about his future before being traded. Even Kevin Durant, who is now Harden’s former teammate, did not sound too pleased with Harden.
For now, it seems Harden is where he wants to be now that he is in Philly and has been reunited with GM Daryl Morey. But if you think that Harden will have the 76ers’ backs beyond this season, you may have to slow your roll on that one too.
Photo: Nov 15, 2019; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) arrives to Toyota Center prior to the game against the Indiana Pacers. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
