Love and Basketball

Does Nike still sell athletic shoes and apparel? Because recent business decisions beg the question: has chairman Phil Knight dropped the football cleats and gym shorts in favor of a 'family business,' Don Corleone style?

Kevin Love is widely considered the top prep basketball player in Oregon and one of the nation's premier post players. The 2005 Oregon Class 4A player of the year and junior-to-be at Lake Oswego High School has already garnered offers from top tier programs, including Arizona, UCLA and Duke to name just a few. But Love's credentials apparently hold little sway with Nike.

Two weeks ago Nike representatives told Love he could no longer play for the Portland Legends, a Nike sponsored AAU summer league basketball team.

The dismissal came after Love played in the rival Reebok ABCD basketball camp instead of the Nike All-American camp.

According to Love, he participated in the Reebok camp because of the higher level of competition. "I just wanted to play against the best players in the country and that's what I did in the ABCD event. It was the best basketball experience of my life, plus I got to meet people like Jay-Z and LeBron (James)." He finished as the camp's third highest-ranked player and -- get this -- wore Nike sneakers in doing so.

Nike's dismissal did not leave Love without a team, however. The Southern California All-Stars immediately claimed him and he will now suit up for the Reebok sponsored, nationally-ranked squad for the remainder of the summer.

And while everything turned out fine for Love, Nike may not be as fortunate.

This questionable business decision by Nike left the basketball world scratching its head in disbelief. Nike, meanwhile, took on the appearance of a certain fictional Italian family with interests in "the olive oil business."

Many basketball gurus contend that Love will blossom into a college all-American and NBA all-star. The bloodline is certainly there. His father was a basketball star at the University of Oregon and later enjoyed a journeyman career in the NBA. So why, then, would Nike cut its ties with a player it could potentially sign to a future lucrative endorsement contract?

If Nike thinks Love's absence at its All-American camp was embarrassing and a betrayal, just wait until he is throwing down tomahawk jams on national television wearing Reebok shoes. Losing Love to a rival high school basketball camp is small potatoes compared to the financial ramifications of losing Love to a rival shoe company.

Nike's actions also threaten its rapport with other AAU teams and players. I cannot imagine many high school basketball stars surrendering their autonomy simply for the privilege of sporting the Nike swoosh.

The whole affair reflects poorly on Nike; one has to wonder whether the public relations juggernaut that fuels the Nike machine blew a gasket somewhere on the way to this decision.

It is difficult to say how all this will play out on the college recruiting circuit. Following Love's boot from the Legends, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski offered support for Nike's decision, calling it "business."

Sources close to Love now tell me that Duke is out of the mix as one of Love's "favorite schools." UCLA, meanwhile, an adidas-backed program, has moved up on Love's list of suitors.

Nike's decision also jeopardized its sponsorship of the Lake Oswego High School basketball team. According to Principal Bruce Plato, Reebok is talking with coach Mark Shoff and school administrators about cutting a new sponsorship deal. Nike is frantically working to repair its relationship with Love and maintain sponsorship of the Lake Oswego basketball program.

The whole affair illustrates the tangled and questionable relationship between major corporate sponsorship and high school athletes. A dangerous standard has been established. If a powerful shoe company can exercise this kind of 'mob-like' control over high school athletes, there is no telling how slippery this slope could get.