When LeBron James was negotiating his first sneaker deal coming out of high school for the NBA, Reebok's final offer was worth approximately $115 million over 10 years. Reebok's initial offer was $100 million over 10 years with a $10 million signing bonus.

Sonny Vaccaro, who was then working for Adidas, had hinted that James would receive a 10-year, $100 million offer from his company. But Adidas ultimately offered less than $60 million in guaranteed money with only incentives pushing it over $100 million. Vaccaro, who decided that day to leave Adidas, personally apologized to James and Gloria James.

James had always envisioned himself with Nike, but their offer was closer to $70 million. James grew up idolizing Michael Jordan and knew the difference in quality from design to marketing that came with Nike.

But Nike was pessimistic that James would actually accept their offer due to the discrepancy between theirs and Reebok's.

James' agent, Aaron Goodwin, called Nike and said that the preference was to sign with them if they improved their offer and agreed on a few points.

James and Nike eventually agreed to a seven-year, $77 million guaranteed contract with a $10 million signing bonus to take the total deal to $87 million. James' deal more than doubled a new deal Kobe Bryant had just signed with Nike.

Reebok's stock fell on the news that James had chosen Nike and they released the following statement:

"While we believe LeBron James would have been a tremendous asset to Reebok, the costs associated with securing a long-term partnership with him was far beyond what we are willing to invest. Reebok's largest competitor simply put more money on the table and in the final hour -- after carefully considering what is in the best interest of our business and our shareholders -- Reebok elected to not match this offer ... we feel great with what Reebok has achieved and that our recent string of unparalleled successes pressured our largest competitor into taking on this enormous cost."

James re-signed with Nike in 2010 and then a lifetime contract in 2019.