Stephen Curry Reveals Why he Chose Under Armour as his choice of Sneakers
At one point in time, Stephen Curry had a shoe deal with Nike, but then something happened, and he chose to take his talents to Under Armour after that incident. And I’m sure Nike is kicking themselves over it.
What Stephen Curry has done for Under Armour is something very few people saw coming. He took the brand that no one heard about to the levels of Adidas and Nike. But what happened that made Curry leave Nike and move onto Under Armour and not Adidas or any other brand?
Nike has the dominant hand in the number of NBA players signed with players like Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, Durant and Kyrie; all have shoe deals with Nike. So what made Curry leave this group of elites and start his own journey with Under Armour?
Curry had a shoe deal with Nike that got over in 2013. He was free to hear what other brands were pitching him, and Nike and Under Armour were two of them. Curry sat down with Nike first.
Curry and his father Dell went to the meeting, and something didn’t seem right. At that time, Nike did not see Curry as a top tier athlete like LeBron or KD. Nike even went ahead and gave Kyrie and Anthony Davis their youth programs which were not offered to Curry, even though Steph had joined the league before them. Nike’s next mistake was to offer Curry a lowball deal, whereas Under Armour gave Curry a much better deal upfront.
And the biggest mistake in that meeting was during the slideshow to showcase what Stephen Curry would get to do; one of the slides had Kevin Durant’s name. Nike chose to use the same pitch, even the same slideshow for Curry and forgot to change the name. And the last nail in the coffin was when the presenter did not even know Curry’s name, calling him Stephon during the meeting. And that was it, for Steph and Dell both.
And eventually, Under Armour came in and swooped Curry away. As Curry said, ‘I was looking for a shoes that would support my ankles and give me the confidence on the court, and Under Armour was it.’
Under Armour promised Stephen Curry that he would be their top tier/signature athlete of the brand, the financial upside was a lot better than Nike, and at last, Curry’s daughter, Riley helped him seal the deal.
As Steph narrated, “I was at my agent’s house and had a bag full of shoes from different brands that were pitched to me. I called Riley into the room and told her to go pick her favorite and give it to daddy.” And that is exactly what Riley did. She picked up the shoes from Under Armour and handed them to Curry.
She even threw away the shoes from other brands in the process, but what a decision the two-year-old made. Steph has become the brand ambassador for Under Armour, drawing in more and more celebrities. Even Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson rocks Under Armour gear now and then.
Steph really took Under Armour from a no-known brand to one of the best in the market, and that, my folks, is the power of Stephen Curry.