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Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard will opt out of his Adidas shoe deal to negotiate a new one or sign with another shoe company, a published report says.

(Bruce Ely / The Oregonian)

Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard can and will opt out of his Adidas shoe deal at the end of this season, a published report says.

Lillard would be free to negotiate a new contract either with Adidas or any other shoe company, says the

posted Sunday.

“Rival shoe companies have been well-versed on the matter for months and are expected to make competitive offers, but CSNNW.com is told that Nike stands the best chance of luring Lillard away from adidas,” writes reporter Chris Haynes, who was first to report earlier this season that Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin would leave Nike for Adidas.

It would appear that Adidas Global Basketball, which is managed at the company’s North American headquarters in Portland, could ill afford to lose Lillard.

The quality of his play has far exceeded expectations since the Oakland, Calif., native was the sixth pick in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft out of Weber State of Ogden, Utah. He was named the 2012-2013 NBA Rookie of the Year last year, having won the award every month during the season. This season he was named to the NBA All-Star team.

On top of that, Adidas’ plan to make Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose their marquee basketball player for global marketing has been scuttled to two knee injuries in short succession.

By default, Lillard has emerged as the most marketable basketball player for Adidas, the world’s second largest sports footwear and apparel company to number one Nike. In basketball, however, Nike, along with its Jordan Brand and Converse labels, controls more than 90 percent of basketball shoe sales.

Until now, re-signing Lillard was not expected to be a top off-season priority for Adidas, which also counts Houston Rockets forward Dwight Howard and Washington Wizards guard John Wall among its endorsed athletes.

was supposed to be the top priority. Several reports have said Adidas was willing to spend whatever it took to sign Wiggins, who is expected to be a one-and-done player after his freshman year at Kansas. Adidas and Nike have targeted the unproven Wiggins, with bidding starting at $180 million over 10 years.

Adidas officials have presumably had access to Wiggins because Kansas is an Adidas-outfitted school.

For what it’s worth,

, Lillard’s school, wears Adidas.

— Allan Brettman