Derrick Rose is having a very, very good ending to his 2011. Earlier this month, Rose and the Chicago Bulls announced that he was signing a five-year, $95 million contract extension. As a member of the Bulls, Rose has a high chance of returning to the Eastern Conference Finals this season—and possibly even the NBA Finals. And, maybe best of all, ESPN’s Marc Stein recently reported that adidas may be positioning themselves to offer Rose a “lifetime” sneaker contract. The proposed contract? Somewhere in the neighborhood of ten years for $250 million.

That, my friends, is a lot of money. Especially when you consider that Rose wouldn’t be getting paid that money to play basketball or put in a ton of actual labor. Rather, he’ll be collecting a paycheck every year simply for helping to endorse his own signature adidas sneaker, plus other adidas gear and products. Stein says a nine-figure investment is not out of the question for Rose, though, because he’s heard that Rose is already outselling guys like LeBron James in China, which is a huge market that’s been relatively untapped by the NBA thus far.

So, should adidas ultimately pull the trigger here and sign Rose to such a lucrative deal? Easy. YES. He’s been with adidas since he debuted in the NBA and he’s grown into one of the league’s true superstars in a very short amount of time. He stays out of trouble. He doesn’t bring any negative press to himself or to his team. He has a good attitude. He plays hard. And, above all else, he’s a good kid. He’s also only going to get better as both a player and a person as he becomes more and more comfortable in the league. That’s why adidas needs to sign him now. It won’t be cheap. But if they’re not willing to pay him, someone else will.

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