A twenty-million patch

The Golden State Warriors signed the largest of the NBA advertising patch deals this week, selling the space on its jersey for the next three years to Japanese tech company Rakuten. ESPN's sources say the deal is worth 20 million of dollars per year, nearly doubling the second-highest deal, signed by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Warriors will sport Rakuten's genuine logo with red and black on their white jersey, a white version of the logo on the blue jersey, and a gold version on the slate jerseys.

Rakuten is an e-commerce company that was founded in Japan in 1997, but it has a North American headquarters in San Francisco, which gives it a strong link to the Warriors and the Bay Area. The company has made a big splash this summer in terms of entering partnerships with major sports franchises, as it signed a four-year, 235 million kit deal with FC Barcelona in July, per Rovell.

This is the first NBA season with sponsors on the jerseys, the decision was made more than a year ago. With a little more than a month to go before the season tips off, 14 teams have done patch deals. However, many big-market teams have remained on the sideline, including the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers.