Windhorst on Nike influencing free agency: “At the time (2003), yes. In today’s market, basketball shoes aren’t selling like back then. It’s currently not fashionable to wear basketball shoes when not playing ball… the number of players getting deals & the shoe deals themselves are way way way down”
Interesting tidbit from his appearance on Haberstroh’s podcast. He said that when LeBron was first drafted, shoe deals were super significant. Not so much anymore.
Happens around the 22:11 mark here: https://youtu.be/jqP22WOdeyM?si=tO7xSllDyLHwySTk&t=1331