[Not the least bit surprising, in the 2002–2003 season, Kobe made the decision to part ways with Adidas.
If it hadn't been for Adidas, Kobe might not have been able to jump straight from high school into the NBA, but at this point saying that no longer means anything; past goodwill can't guarantee that the two sides will cooperate forever.
Kobe had long felt anger and dissatisfaction toward Adidas; he believed Adidas had never tapped into his true value, and he had no confidence in their future cooperation.
Especially in the 2002–2003 season, Kobe put up a phenomenal performance yet once again lost the MVP vote to Tim Duncan.
Both were players under Adidas, and Kobe believed Duncan surpassing him in total votes had to do with Adidas's misguided policies.
In the 2003 Western Conference Finals, after learning he had missed out on MVP, Kobe abandoned Adidas's new signature shoe and went back to the previous generation, The-KOBE, to express his anger at Adidas's inaction.
