LeBron James is destroying Toronto Raptors with his dominant performance. In the second game of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals Series held on the morning of May 4, Beijing time, James scored 43 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists in a comprehensive data, and also led the Cleveland Cavaliers to beat the Raptors 128-110 away, with a total score of 2-0. In the seven games in the previous playoffs defeated Indiana Pacers in the first round of , James averaged 34 points per game, and his rebounds, assists, steals and blocks were the first in the team. In addition, he scored the highest score in the team three times and won the highest assists in the team five times.
"Little Emperor" James may not win the fifth MVP trophy, because this year James Harden is expected, but James is still the most influential player in basketball.
Even outside the court, James is still very influential. In the 2017 NBA sneaker sales list, his Nike signature shoes occupy the top spot. Adidas' Harden failed to make the top five on the "functional" sneaker sales list, according to data collected by market research firm NPD Group. In 2017, Nike's Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant's signature shoes ranked second and third on the list.
In 2003, a month before Cavaliers selected James with the No. 1 pick, James signed a seven-year contract with Nike with a total price of up to $90 million. When the two parties renewed their contracts in 2010, Nike paid James about $30 million a year. In 2015, according to James' business manager Maverick Carter, James signed a lifetime contract with Nike, with a total value of more than $1 billion.
In James's career, Nike has spent more than $300 million on him (James has earned $234 million in his NBA career so far). But for Nike, which has an annual revenue of up to $35 billion, the money is worth it. According to NPD Group, the total volume of the functional basketball shoes market in 2017 was US$1 billion, of which Nike's market share was as high as 73.5%, and another 7.8% was occupied by Nike's Jordan brand.
Although James' signature shoes topped the list, in terms of sales of his shoes, including functional basketball shoes, sales have declined significantly. "Basketball shoes were one of the important products of street culture, but today's basketball shoes are indeed outdated." NPD Group analyst Matt﹒ Matt Powell said.
Generally speaking, in the market for functional basketball shoes, the minimum retail price of basketball shoes is generally US$120. Powell's B-hour sales peaked at $1.3 billion in 2015, but fell 13.6% in 2017. Not only are basketball products unsold, but the sales of other functional sports goods have also declined across the board. In the past three years, no sport's functional products have seen an upward trend in sales. Powell said this is the first time in more than 40 years that sales of all functional sporting goods have declined for several consecutive years.
Tennis shoes , running shoes and basketball shoes have all become popular trends, but the current trend prefers sports and leisure style. According to NPD Group data, sales of products taking sports and leisure routes rose 17% last year to a total of $9.6 billion. "This industry has basically entered the sports lifestyle stage now," Powell said.
Although the market for functional basketball shoes is sluggish, replica sneakers can still maintain their position. Last year, sales of replica sneakers remained stable, thanks to Jordan Brand. This brand, founded in 1984, is based on the God of Basketball Jordan. Last year, sales of replica sneakers reached US$3 billion, more than three times the sales of functional basketball shoes. According to NPD Group data, the Jordan brand accounted for 65% of the market share of the replica basketball shoes in 2017, followed by Nike (23%), Adidas (9.3%) and Puma (2.3%). In addition, Nike's Jordan brand has also achieved considerable sales in China, but that part is not counted.
In the 2016 sneaker sales ranking, Irving ranked second, following James. Last year he held the second place.Irving only launched his personal signature shoes in 2016, and Nike's strong publicity is indispensable behind his success. The outside world originally thought that the sales of Irving sneakers would decline in 2017, but the sales of his signature shoes could still go against the current. He is also the only player among the top five players in sales last year to see signature shoes sales increase. NPD Group said that in the category of functional basketball shoes, sales of sneakers from James, Durant, Stephen Curry and Jordan brands have all declined.
"Irving is no longer covered by James's brilliance, he is independent." Powell said, "And his signature shoes are new enough to make fans willing to go out of the house and buy his shoes."
On the 2017 list, Durant and Curry exchanged positions, and Durant is one more than his teammate and Curry who signed with UA. NPD Group said that in 2017, UA functional basketball shoes sales fell by 39%, and its market share also dropped from 17.2% to 12.1%. "UA has released several good shoes, but they really overestimated the market's digestibility, which led to an oversupply of sneakers," Powell said.
Lazy Bear Sports Translator: Zhuang Kunchao
Statement: This article is compiled from Forbes, and the original author is Kurt Badenhausen.
