Michael Jordan has been associated with Nike since 1984. Being a huge part of the Nike family, Jordan wasn’t going to allow Tim Thomas to enter his house wearing any Adidas gear. Instead of sending Thomas away, the Chicago Bulls star forced the youngster to put on Nike gear and then allow him to enter his abode, as Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson revealed on X (Formerly Twitter).
“But I was an Adidas athlete, so I walk in MJ’s house, I got all Adidas gear on,” Thomas said. “So, MJ stopped me at the door, ‘Hey oh, you gotta take that off.’ So, they basically stripped me down and put me in all Nike gear.”
Revealing to Brandon Robinson, Michael Jordan was so loyal to Nike that Thomas had to keep all of his clothes in an Adidas bag outside the house.
“So, when I end up leaving MJ’s house, the funny thing was all my Adidas gear was packed up in the bag sitting outside. He didn’t even want to leave the gear inside,” Thomas revealed.
Michael Jordan has always been an extremely competitive athlete. Considering how MJ would go above and beyond to be the best, it does seem fitting that he wouldn’t allow anybody wearing his rival brand’s merchandise to enter his house.
Michael Jordan used to love Adidas
Before joining the Nike family, Michael Jordan was an athlete representing Adidas. During his time with the University of North Carolina, MJ was seen wearing Adidas. Even before playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels, His Airness would dawn Adidas merchandise as a kid.
Adidas was almost certain that Jordan would sign with them during the 1984 draft process. However, Nike’s pitch was too good to turn down. Apart from offering him $500,000 per year for five seasons, the sports apparel company even provided MJ with his own signature sneaker line as a rookie.
“All throughout college, we wore Converse, and up to that point, my favorite shoe was Adidas shoes… I was pro-Adidas the whole time. And once I went through the presentation with Nike, they really made a great effort of having my input on the shoe, any shoes that I wanted to wear,” MJ said.
Expected to generate $3 million over four years, the Air Jordan line exceeded all imaginations. During its first year in the market, Air Jordan made north of $130 million.
With Nike being the major reason behind MJ’s wealth, it is understandable why no one is allowed to wear the three stripes at the Jordan household.