Under Armour signing Stephen Curry was arguably their biggest coup ever. Their underdog status was the perfect stage to give the rejected yet talented kids a chance to prove themselves. Would Nike or Adidas do the same? Maybe now, but not back then. In fact, that was the reason Steph even left Nike in the first place. The Chef needed the attention to keep him in the kitchen. But what’s funnier is how he realised the need for that attention. And you can thank Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank for that brilliance.

Get this – as an underdog brand, you’ll need to give something the big boys can’t. Steph isn’t the tallest, biggest, or the best-looking to be the face of a multi-billion-dollar brand like Nike. That’s exactly what made him the perfect fit at UA. But they couldn’t get him the traditional way. So what did they do? They made him want to sign, instead of it being the other way around. And they did it through one of the forgotten Warriors stars of that era, Kent Bazemore.

“Kent Bazemore was his locker mate. So we actually targeted Kent and said that we’re gonna overwhelm Kent with more shock and awe of product service, story, love, hugs. And it was about 3 months into the Warriors season and Curry’s looking next door at Kent. He’s like, “Who is this brand that you get all this attention of? Because I’m at Nike I really am not heard from them” becuase he’s down on the totem pole,” said Plank.

The plan worked. They now had one of the best stars in the division, and they did it the smart way. And you know what’s funny? Kent’s pitch was fully authentic. It didn’t even feel like the proxy pitch UA wanted it to be. Instead, they got the star they wanted, with the promise of loyalty for years to come.

“I’m like, ‘Man, come over here, get your own shoe.’ I hadn’t talked to anybody at Under Armour about this. I was making all these promises, like ‘Get your own shoe, you’re the face of the game,’ sending out all these hypotheticals. I haven’t talked to anyone over there,” said Bazemore.

There was more to it than just a lack of attention. Back then, Nico Harrison was a part of the team that was responsible for bringing Stephen Curry into the fray. But he butchered it so badly that there were literally calls of fraudulence from the current Mavs GM.

Nico Harrison’s butchered Stephen Curry presentation is a historical blunder

Nike’s handling of Steph made him want to look for other restaurants. And when Under Armor came in with a package he couldn’t refuse, you couldn’t blame him for taking the plunge. There’s no doubt that it worked out perfectly for both parties. But aside from Nike’s treatment as a whole, it was Nico’s botched presentation that made the exit door that much more enticing.

“In the Under Armour case, I didn’t push but I let them know that I prefer Under Armour for a number of reasons. Part of which was the Nike pitch meeting was fraud and mistakes,” said Jeff Austin, Curry’s agent. It takes a lot to claim fraudulent behaviour. But turns out that Nico used a presentation that was made for Kevin Durant instead. And on top of that, he referred to Steph as Seth, without even offering the the Warriors star his own signature shoe. Now that’s not now you treat someone you want to sign, is it?

Under Armor pulled off a coup for the ages. Stephen Curry got what he wanted, and UA made billions from it. Nike on the other hand? Nico Harrison should be counting his lucky stars that the tale is as forgotten as Kent Bazemore. Maybe not after the Luka Doncic trade- he’s really digging his own grave at this point.