Indiana basketball: Jalen Hood-Schifino signs endorsement deal with adidas

Former Indiana men’s basketball guard Jalen Hood-Schifino has reportedly signed a multi-year deal with adidas for footwear and apparel, per Nick DePaula. The deal was announced by Adidas on Twitter as part of its Chapter 03 collection and also featured fellow NBA rookie Gradey Dick.

Both Dick and Hood-Schifino were adidas NIL ambassadors while in college, alongside other college stars like Trayce Jackson-Davis and Hansel Enmanuel. Based on Hood-Schifino’s tweet about the deal, this pre-existing relationship was key for the Lakers’ rookie to sign with adidas.

After being drafted 17th overall to the Lakers, Hood-Schifino started all six summer league games, averaging 13.8 points and 3.3 assists per game. While his outside shooting was a concern entering the draft, he shot 35.7% from deep in Los Angeles’ four games in Vegas this summer.

As I wrote when Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis first signed as college ambassadors, these partnerships with players through their college and professional careers are essentially legalized versions of the partnerships between schools, athletes, and apparel partners that the FBI cracked down on* in 2017.

(* of course, nothing really came of this.)

However you feel about this being legal under the new NIL rules, you should be happy that Indiana basketball benefits from this arrangement as a clear priority for adidas. It may not result in Indiana re-signing with them in 2024, but it does demonstrate that adidas likes to do business with Hoosiers - football fiasco aside.

More certain is the fact that recruits will be hearing about this, as they’ve heard about Mike Woodson’s ability to develop JHS and TJD into draft picks in the first place. Come to Indiana, and you will get paid to play basketball, potentially for a very long time.