It’s not often a player drafted with a second-round pick plays their way into a sneaker endorsement deal but former Purdue point guard Carsen Edwards isn’t a run-of-the-mill player, either.
Edwards, selected by the Boston Celtics with the 33rd overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, led the Big Ten conference in scoring last season (logging 24.3 points per game) and didn’t miss a beat in Summer League, putting up 19.4 points per game while shooting 46.7 percent from deep.
It seems his prolific scoring capabilities caught the eye of the folks at Adidas, who have offered the rookie a multi-year endorsement deal for footwear and apparel. The offer was particularly appealing to the Texas native because of his fandom for another, higher-profile Adidas brand representative (per ESPN’s Vic DePaula):
“I was a big fan of Tracy McGrady’s,” Edwards explained. “Whatever shoe he was wearing, I was trying to wear. As a young dude, he just scored all of the points for the Rockets, so that was cool. He just did it all.”
The connection helped forge the ties between Edwards and Adidas in other ways, too, with the shoe company arranging for Boston’s newest backcourt member to meet McGrady at a photo shoot taking place at Adidas’ office in Portland.
“Being able to meet Tracy McGrady is absolutely insane to me … Them actually wanting my opinion on new things that they’re looking to drop, asking me would I wear it or what I would change, that’s been really cool.”
However, while Edwards can be an absolute terror on the parquet, jacking up daggers from almost anywhere past halfcourt, don’t expect him to reflect that ostentatious attitude in the colorways he selects once his new kicks are available:
“I’ll probably be low-key with it … I can just picture my parents if I’m wearing some crazy colors — ‘You’re not producing enough to be wearing crazy colors. Why don’t you go do something first?’ I’ll keep it calm at first, and if I start doing some stuff, I might branch out.”
