The adidas & James Harden Partnership

The adidas & James Harden Partnership

James Harden is one of the most prolific offensive players in the history of the NBA. He has helped to change the game with his style of play. For years now, Harden has been a part of the adidas family.

Basketball IQ

James Edward Harden Jr. was born on August 26. 1989. Harden is from California. The future all-star grew up in Compton and was mostly raised by his mother.

Harden impressed coaches early on with his instincts. The young guard was a smart basketball player.

Smarter than many other players his age. A growth spurt happened, and his skills be-came increasingly refined. James Harden would lead his high school to back-to-back championships and was named a McDonald's All-American in 2007.

Three Stripes

In 2015, adidas signed Harden to a 13 year, 200 million dollar deal. Harden would leave Nike to join the Three Stripes. Since 2015, Harden has been a major part of adidas and its basketball division. As of 2025, Harden has had 10 signature sneakers.

Harden is known for his flashy style, play and innovation on the basketball court. His signature line has reflected that play. Bold colors, cutting edge tech and futuristic de-signs have defined the line.

Thunderous Debut

The Oklahoma City Thunder would draft James Harden with the third pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. While in OKC, Harden would join forces with two other top players of his generation, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant. The young trio would take the Thun-der all the way to the NBA Finals, where they would lose to LeBron James and his Mi-ami Heat. The trio never got the chance to reach their full potential, and Harden would be traded to the Houston Rockets in 2012.

Blasting Off

It was a shock when OKC traded Harden to Houston over salary concerns. Harden was the third option on OKC, and the Rockets were looking for him to be the number one op-tion for their team. They wanted him to be the face of the franchise.

Harden was able to rise to the occasion for Houston, and he consistently put up MVP worthy numbers. He would bring home the MVP Trophy in 2018. Harden was a great in-dividual player. However, his critics often pointed out that the Houston Rockets did not achieve much success with him as their star.

Brooklyn, Philly & LA

Harden would eventually relocate from the Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets in 2020. Harden would join the most talented team of his career.

He would again team with Kevin Durant, who had recently signed with the Nets. Kyrie Irving was also on the team. The trio would join forces to become one of the great “Su-perteams” of all time… on paper.

The Nets had a lot of great names on its roster, but they accomplished nothing as a unit. The team broke up quickly, and Harden would be moved to the 76ers in 2021. In 2023, he would move to the Los Angeles Clippers.

10 Years

Harden has moved around a lot in his career, but he has consistently been a member of the adidas family for 10 years now. The partnership has resulted in 10 signature sneak-ers.