Home

NBA

“That’s Why Nike Is King”: Under Armour Underselling Stephen Curry After Finals Win Has NBA Fans Staggered

Published 08/02/2022, 1:00 PM EDT

Follow Us

USA Today via Reuters

The infamous war between Nike and Adidas saw a dark horse join the race in the last two decades. Under Armour has reached the pinnacle of basketball and other sportswear. It competes with the two giants for the king of the hill spot. The brand has signed some remarkable athletes like Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Damion Lee, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

Stephen Curry was a Nike athlete for the earlier parts of his career. In 2013, when Nike was presented with the opportunity to re-sign the rising star, the presentation did not go their way. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

WATCH THIS STORY: 3 Times Stephen Curry lost his cool on the court

Later, Curry signed a multi-million dollar apparel and shoe deal with Under Armour. Furthermore, he now has a stake in the brand and has his own line called ‘The Curry Brand.’ This is much like ‘Project Rock’ for Johnson. The current deal is estimated to be around $20 million per year, which was a mere $4 million in total in 2013. NBA fans are now questioning if Curry made the right choice as they take to NBA Twitter to voice their disappointment in Under Armour.

USA Today via Reuters

A tweet from a page named, WarriorsWorld, highlighted the fact that Under Armour has not launched anything special even after Curry won the Championship. It quickly became a trending conversation in the NBA. Essentially, fans were quite critical of Under Armour for not capitalizing on Curry’s 2022 season. In addition, Stephen Curry won the 2022 NBA Finals MVP trophy and took home the first-ever NBA Finals MVP.

Fans troll Under Armour for not capitalizing on Stephen Curry 

Under Armour has been fairly quiet since Golden State Warriors defeated Boston Celtics in 6 games. Furthermore, there were a few apparel releases and sneaker releases the following week; however, nothing was enough to woo away the fans. Here are some of the fan reactions to the Under Armour and Stephen Curry ordeal:

 

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest NBA stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

Hopefully, the lacklustre nature that the fans are pointing out does not eclipse Stephen Curry’s legacy. Moreover, it is important that a great basketball player like him has a popular sneaker deal. Michael Jordan and his ‘Air Jordan’ brand is a testament to that.

READ MORE: NBA fans go berserk as Stephen Curry set to go head on with Aaron Rodgers in an award show he’s hosting himself

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Under Armour and the ‘Curry Brand’

According to Forbes, Curry makes around $44 million per annum from his endorsements, of which $20 million is from Under Armour. Furthermore, the ‘Curry 1’ was a great success, and up until the ‘Curry 4’, the Stephen Curry ‘I Can Do All Things’ brand was facing a lot of success.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Hopefully, Stephen Curry and Under Armour will reach a place where they are actually doing greater things. Moreover, fans are not amused with the direction the brand is taking Stephen Curry in.

Recently, Curry redesigned his popular sneaker ‘Curry 4’ with the ‘FlowTro’ technology and released a limited-time ‘Night-Night’ merch. Beyond these two, there has been little effort from the brand.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Shrey Gupta

164Articles

One take at a time

Shrey Gupta is an NBA writer for EssentiallySports. He is currently a third year undergraduate student at Krea University in Andhra Pradesh earning his degree in Economics, while also creating content for ES and gaining his first experience in the field of sports journalism and writing. An avid basketball fan, his current favorites are Stephen Curry and D'Angelo Russell.
Show More>

Edited by:

Pritam Priyedarshi