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Stephen Curry Details Disastrous Meeting Which Led to Him Leaving Nike

Published 11/08/2021, 1:14 AM EST

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Nike is one of the biggest sports retail companies in the entire world. With many pro athletes endorsing the brand, it keeps growing. It seems that they can make no mistakes with their business moves. However, they made a humongous err long time back when they approached the Golden State Warriors star, Stephen Curry.

Steph took birth in a basketball family and showed a promising talent since the beginning. Responsible for leading an entire revolution from behind the arc, he quickly became the face of the NBA. Likewise, shoe deals came flooding in for the ‘Baby Face Assassin’. Even Nike came up to Curry to make him one of their athletes. However, that meeting did not go their way on account of their own mistakes.

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That one meeting cost them big time as Stephen Curry chose Under Armour. Recently, Curry spoke about how he felt during the meeting with Nike.

Stephen Curry opens up about the Nike meeting

While in an interview, the question about the interview with Nike came up. Steph spoke about how he had an emotional reaction to the way Nike approached the meeting. He emphasized that they should have been prepared if they really wanted him.

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The 3x NBA Champion stated: “You have an emotional reaction because you’re feeling good about yourself. Y’all supposed to be rolling out the red carpet in this situation if you really want me. This is supposed to be buttoned up, dialed in and like you said it’s been talked about enough. But I think in the moment you’re just trying to be observant of everything. Like how everybody’s speaking to you, how every detail of the presentation, of the vision, how well they know you as a person.”

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He further expressed how the Nike representatives disappointed him and perhaps that made him look for other options. As Curry added, “That was one of the first meetings and it kind of set the table for the rest of the meetings. I was like alright, can’t get any worse than this so let’s see where it goes from here.”

Interestingly, Under Armour benefitted the most from this meeting. Their partnership went really well and Curry continues to be an endorser of the brand to this day.

What exactly happened in the Nike meeting?

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Steph’s father, Dell Curry spoke openly about their meeting with Nike and how it went. Dell, a former baller himself, revealed how he even stopped mid meeting as he felt extremely disrespected by the way Nike approached the meeting. So here is what happened.

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The first thing Dell noticed was that the Nike representatives were mispronouncing Steph’s name. However, what shocked him more was the fact that no one corrected it. The nail in the coffin for Dell was when they showed a slide featuring Kevin Durant. By this moment, Dell had had enough because the evident lack of preparation meant they weren’t informed on Steph’s excellence.

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WATCH THIS STORY: Sneakers From Adidas and Nike That Kobe Bryant Wore During His NBA Championships Runs

Knowing what happened in the meeting, do you think Stephen Curry made the right choice? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by:

Anuj Talwalkar

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Anuj Talwalkar is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He is a student studying at NM College in Mumbai, aspiring to pursue sports management to follow his love for sports. Anuj started following the NBA last year, and he loves to combine his passion for writing with his understanding of basketball.
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