While Nike and Adidas products dominate every corner of the sports world, there are also exceptional cases where these two giants in the sports apparel industry cannot reach. One of those cases is the brightest star of basketball, Stephen Curry. The Golden State Warriors’ superstar has been wearing shoes from Under Armour for the past few years and has recently renewed his contract with the American sportswear brand.
Superstar basketball player Stephen Curry Nike and Adidas probably couldn’t understand why Curry turned down a multi-million dollar contract to collaborate with Under Armour, a brand that is difficult to compete with the giants in the sports fashion industry. It turns out that the story originated from something that neither Nike nor Adidas could have anticipated.
A few weeks before deciding which shoes to promote, Curry’s representative, Jeff Austin, brought three pairs of basketball shoes from Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour for the 1988-born player to choose from. At their beachfront mansion in Hermosa, California, Curry allowed his then one-year-old daughter, Riley, to make the choice.
Curry’s Family Everything unfolded in a truly remarkable manner. “I placed three different pairs of shoes in front of Riley and asked her, ‘Which one do you like?’” Curry happily recounted. “She picked up a Nike shoe and threw it over her shoulder, then did the same with the second one. When it came to the third pair, Riley picked it up, walked over, and handed it to me.” That shoe happened to be the Under Armour Anatomix Spawn, and Curry knew it suited him. “Because it was Riley’s choice.”
After that, as everyone knows, Curry played a major role in leading the Golden State Warriors to become the NBA champions in the 2015 season, and he was also named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player that year. In the past few years, Curry has continuously shattered records in the American professional basketball league, particularly in three-point shooting records. The 28-year-old player can be satisfied with his Under Armour shoes, even though it happened by chance and no one could have predicted it.
Of course, the ones most resentful are Nike and Adidas. The two “giants” reluctantly watched as Under Armour consistently increased its basketball shoe sales associated with the name Stephen Curry. And in the next 10 years, if Curry maintains his peak performance as he does now, it remains to be seen whether Under Armour can catch up with Nike or Adidas.
Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to reach the milestone of 300 three-pointers made in a single season after a game against the Orlando Magic on March 7th. In that game, Curry alone scored an impressive 46 points.
