Shoe strings Corporations spend millions of dollars each year to affiliate with top high school talent, but even the best local teams see only a tiny piece of the pie.(Sports Extra)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), December, 2006 | by Welge, Joshua

Byline: Joshua Welge Daily Herald Sports Writer Who's Next? That is the question posed in black and white on the Reebok company Web site. Who is the Next Michael Jordan? Who is the Next star born on the streets of America and made in the NBA? Or, in more pragmatic terms, who is the Next kid to make millions for Reebok? Or Nike? Or Adidas? That question, in part, has taken the giants of the corporate sneaker world to the grassroots of basketball.

Shoe companies now have their footprints all over the high school game. Nike invests an estimated $15 million a year on amateur basketball, while Adidas spends $10 million annually and Reebok $6 million a year, according to industry executives. They sponsor hundreds of AAU summer basketball teams, and...