When Michael Jordan left North Carolina for the NBA, he sought an endorsement deal with Adidas and not Nike.

But Adidas executives in Germany decided customers would favor taller players and wanted to sponsor centers.

Adidas distributors at the time lobbied for Jordan.

“We kept saying, ‘no—no one can relate to those guys. Who can associate with a seven-foot-tall guy?’” said a source who was an Adidas distributor at the time.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one player Adidas signed during the period.

Like Adidas, both the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers overlooked Jordan for centers as they selected Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie ahead of him.