Stephen Curry’s relationship with Under Armour has been a defining feature of his NBA journey. After the two parties signed a deal in 2013, their partnership has grown tremendously, and recently, Curry’s own banner under the brand even signed De’Aaron Fox as their first signature athlete. It’s pretty evident that the four-time NBA Champion’s decision to part ways with Nike has paid off.
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Curry even went so far as to shade the Oregon-based sneaker giant when speaking to Bloomberg Originals’ Emily Chang. She asked for his thoughts on a former Nike market exec’s bold claim that his business would’ve been far more successful had he stayed with them instead of moving to UA.
Curry declared that his decision to move on was a very valid one, considering how he was treated during Nike’s original pitch in 2013. He also added that he has always had an underdog mentality, and signing with a brand that wasn’t a top player at the time was much more relatable to him.
“There’s a reason I’m not there. I’ve always been an underdog, it’s kind of my mentality, and when I joined Under Armour back in 2013, their basketball roster was pretty slim. Basically starting their category from scratch, so to be a signature athlete for the 7-8 years that I was there to then turning it into Curry Brand, and the success we’ve had, I’m super proud of that to be honest.”
The two-time MVP claimed that building an empire with UA was much more fulfilling than any lucrative partnership with Nike could have been.
How Nike fumbled Stephen Curry
Curry, who started his career as a Nike athlete, and had exclusively worn the company’s shoes till 2013, was looking for a contract extension. However, Under Armour showed interest in him and to compete with Nike’s $2.5 million/year offer, they were ready to give him $4 million and a signature shoe. Sounds like an open-and-shut case right?
But Curry still took the meeting with Nike because their one of their executives at the time, Nico Harrison, used to represent his father Dell Curry. That’s where things went off track. Harrison revealed that someone made a major error in the presentation by calling Curry “Steph-on” instead of “Steph-en”. Next, the marketing team used a repurposed ppt slide from their meeting with Kevin Durant.
One of the slide still had KD’s name on it.
Curry felt disrespected and he signed with UA soon after. The rest, as they say, is history.
