Remember the 2002 Slam Magazine titled ‘The Takeover!?’Alongside LeBron James was a retired NBA player. Both rising stars were predicted to become giants in the NBA. The 4x NBA champ does not need any introduction, but the latter’s career didn’t turn out as expected. Despite that, the former NBA player ended up securing a lucrative deal, seemingly thanks to King James.

While James was called The Chosen One, Sebastian Telfair also had a shining career ahead of him. He was a prince ruling the New York City basketball scene. The high school phenom was also part of Jay-Z’s team at the famous Rucker Park game that never happened. Both the music icon and the Lakers veteran were spotted on the Rucker sidelines to watch his games. King James once showed up for another indoor basketball tournament where Telfair also played. 

And this time, the Lakers star also adorned some Adidas gear, and this connection and exposure to James likely helped Telfair secure his deal even before he reached the NBA. Speaking of the incident, he recalled, “ISA is one of our biggest like street tournaments that’s indoor and it’s kind of like man I remember that I think that played a huge part of me getting the Adidas deal. That’s a fact,” Telfair said on Above the Rim podcast.

He added, “Cuz when BR and them landed I guess that’s how we had it set up and then before the game I had Bron in all the Adidas s**t and all that that they had given me and I remember Jim Gatt0 (former Adidas executive) coming over to me like ‘man I want to thank you so much man. This means so much to us, man.’ Gave me some extra money oh my god I was like oh yeah it was lit.”

Speaking of James, he also played against Telfair at the Adidas ABCD camp. This event was hosted by then-Adidas consultant Sonny Vaccaro. King James wore Adidas gear quite often at the time. Most of you wouldn’t know how James almost went to the rival company—if only one thing hadn’t changed.

Adidas failed to honor the value it initially promised the veteran. Vaccaro had offered James a deal of $10 million a year, but the company changed the numbers to $7 million a year. This led to the company losing James, who joined Nike, and Vaccaro, who then joined Reebok. And Telfair’s deal with Adidas didn’t go well either.

Sebastian Telfair was upset about the termination of his Adidas deal 

Adidas was particularly interested in the 2004 NBA draft class, and Telfair was one of them. As one of the best point guards of the time, the deal amounted to a sweet $20 million. And this was even before he stepped into the NBA, just as he mentioned.

However, due to legal issues and several more incidents concerning Telfair, the brand terminated their deal with the athlete. “I had like a $6 million check pending right there…Adidas is super bogus for that. If you go to my documentary, and they asked Adidas, ‘Why y’all signing Sebastian? What does he bring to Adidas?’ And they was like, ‘Street credibility,’ Sebastian said in a conversation with DJ Vlad.

He added, “Soon as some street s*** supposedly jump off, y’all go snatch all the money back. And y’all been paying me way before this, so how you gonna take that? That’s my family backbone right there.” And Telfair wasn’t too fond of it.

During his run with Lincoln High, Telfair gained massive success. And later got drafted as the 13 overall pick. But as said, his NBA career was different. After two years playing for the Portland Trail Blazers, he became a journeyman playing for the Celtics, Timberwolves, Clippers, Cavs, Timberwolves, Suns, and Raptors. Had things turned out differently, both James and Telfair would have been part of Adidas.