Steph Curry is too Big for Any Brand

He left Under Armour but won't exactly fit at Nike

The shocking business news of the week was a revelation that, after 12 years together, Steph Curry is leaving Under Armour. On Friday night, Steph made waves by warming up against the San Antonio Spurs wearing Kobe Nikes. He went on to play in his UA shoes, but a message was sent that he’s open for business.

This outcome was surprising in part because as recently as 2023, Curry had signed a longterm contract with UA that had the potential to be a “lifetime deal.” It all makes sense, though, if you look at Under Armour’s stock history (Note: They paid a lot to Steph Curry in “stock”).

On a personal level, it’s the end of a story where a lot of what I might pretentiously call my “career” began. Back in March of 2016, at the height of Warriors Mania, ESPN published a story with a Buzzfeed style headline of, “You won’t believe how Nike lost Steph to Under Armour.” I was a beat writer back then, covering the team goings on without providing much else. But I was interested in sneaker industry goings on, and this tale had become my little side project on the road.

I remember being sick in a New York hotel room, wrapped in a blanket, looking at all the words on the Google Doc and wondering who might be interested in this. Was I wasting my time? It felt like I’d gone crazy, having spent many hours and written words on a story nobody had asked me to write. It was all so much rambling about Not Basketball.

I’d pitched the “Steph left Nike” piece to ESPN the Magazine. This was my ambitious attempt at graduating to the ranks of journalism-journalism. The Mag was a place for serious writers, a few cuts above doing game stories. After showing initial interest, and editing the article in a lengthy process, it was cut from the issue. I was crushed, but it made sense. Back then, ESPN didn’t see this as a topic of real sports interest. Fans wanted to know about games. What the hell was this feature about Steph Curry leaving a shoe brand for another shoe brand? Tell us more about his shooting routine!

I was disappointed but with the help of Henry Abbott, the article was at least posted to ESPN.com as a consolation prize. Within literally a couple minutes, I went from “Well I tried my best, time to move on,” to realizing that my life had changed. That sounds like an exaggeration, but the reaction was immediately palpable.

Retweet numbers shot up, and my phone started buzzing. And buzzing. I was getting calls from agents who wanted to represent me, TV shows that wanted to interview me, book publishers that wanted my pitch. I’d gone from someone only known to Warriors fans and (angry) Cavs fans to a different place.

What had been cut from ESPN the Magazine became the most read article in ESPN.com history. The colorful tale of Nike’s fumble appealed not just to basketball fans, but to the business world and beyond. I’d written an article that included a botched Power Point presentation, which it turns out that many people could relate to. The sort of corporate warrior who buys a Michael Lewis book at the airport might want to hear from me. I went from “beat writer” to rising star. I was maybe about to become famous?

I couldn’t handle it. Within roughly a year, I was fired by ESPN, having failed the people who saw potential in me.