Rockets G James Harden and Thunder G Russell Westbrook's "outsized personalities and huge marketing campaigns from Adidas and Jordan Brand," respectively, will "have an impact" on this year's NBA MVP race, according to THE VERTICAL's Nick DePaula. Appearing on a podcast, DePaula noted it is a "huge difference in profile" from Spurs F Kawhi Leonard, another likely candidate, who has a "reserved personality and literally no marketing around him from different brands." Adidas has "really prioritized" how it has marketed Harden, including the release of his first signature shoe, the Harden Vol. 1. DePaula noted a lot of players "have an MVP bonus with their team deal and then also with their shoe contract." The "industry standard" is that NBAers make between $6-11M a year on a shoe deal, while there also is the industry standard $1M deal for winning league MVP. Wizards G John Wall had a $2M MVP bonus with Adidas before his contract expired, but "typically" the bonus is $1M and some players "have a roll-over clause that could ramp up over the remaining years of the deal." DePaula: "Winning the MVP means you obviously had a great year and that's a huge cementing-your-legacy type of moment, but it can also add up the dollars on stuff like endorsement deals" ("The Vertical," SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/8).
