Steph Curry left Nike because of the opportunity that Under Armour presented, not because of a botched meeting
Nike has dominated the NBA shoe market because it has successfully gotten the biggest stars in the league to sign to its fold. Well, not all of them, actually.
One of Nike’s biggest regrets was its inability to extend Steph Curry’s shoe contract in 2013. Now there has been plenty of discussions on what happened. Most point to an infamous meeting between Nike and Curry that led to their divorce. But that wasn’t the real reason.
When Draymond Green asked Steph about that during an appearance at The Draymond Green Show 11 months ago, this was Steph’s story:
“Knowing I had four years on the court, I got to survey the shoe-free agent situation to see where I was at, in that part of my career, building something from scratch, taking a chance to put my fingerprint on a brand from the ground up and have a company that was going to invest behind me, it was a huge opportunity. And it was kinda going against the grain a little bit in terms of at that time, the stable that Nike had, and everybody can talk about what they do with the best…matter of opinion but the fact that I got to go and get in the signature shoe game, build a brand, inspire, story-tell around things that are important to me, like where we at now? Eight, or nine years removed from that? And I got his freakin’ logo on my hat, and we have hopefully something that will continue to be part of the legacy for years and years to come. That was me betting on myself, and it’s been a fun process from Day 1.”
The infamous Nike meeting
There was a lot of discussion about that infamous Nike meeting with Steph Curry 10 years ago. Curry had been a Nike shoe endorser since joining the league in 2009. When his shoe deal was up in 2013, the shoe company hosted a pitch meeting so that Curry would sign a contract extension.
In 2016, ESPN’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss published what he called the “untold story” of why Steph Curry left Nike for Under Armour. In that article, Strauss enumerated incidents as allegedly told by Dell Curry, Steph’s dad, who was present during the meeting.”
According to Strauss, one of the Nike executives mispronounced Steph’s first name as “Steph-on”, and Dell was reportedly surprised why there was no correction. Another blunder happened when a PowerPoint presentation reportedly showed Kevin Durant’s name on it instead of Steph’. Ultimately, Curry signed a $4 million per year deal with Under Armour, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Under Armour’s business with Steph is bigger than ever
In 2015, Under Armour released the first-ever Steph Curry signature shoe, and he went on to lead the Golden State Warriors to the first-ever NBA championship. In September of that year, Curry agreed to extend his Under Armour contract up to 2024 in a deal that included an equity stake.
Then in 2020, Under Armour and Curry launched the Curry Brand. That same year, Under Armour and Curry also launched UA Flow, a best-in-class shoe cushioning technology that has helped take the Curry signature shoes and Steph’s game to the next level. Just last week, Under Armour announced that Steph is the new President of the Curry Brand.
Since their partnership in 2013, Under Armour and Steph have released 10 models of the Curry signature shoes, each with a unique design linked to memorable moments of Steph’s career and his rise in the NBA. With the release of the Curry Flow 10 this past fall, Curry became only the 9th athlete in history to release ten different signature shoes from his lineup.
