“I always had that perspective. You just didn’t know what opportunities would be there” said Stephen Curry, when discussing taking his portfolio beyond basketball. Similarly to many NBA stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the Warriors star has not limited his earnings source to just basketball. Through endorsement deals with Under Armour and Sony to investments in Tonal and Oxigen Water, the 36-year-old has created several other sources of revenue for himself. Nevertheless, similar to the NBA, the business world is dynamic and unpredictable. As a result, it was inevitable that Curry had to answer for one of his endorsement deals that went sideways. After all, it happened not just for him, but for several others, too.

Recently, Stephen Curry sat down for an interview with Bloomberg. During the discussion, renowned journalist Emily Chang brought up the NBA star’s previous work with FTX. Yes, that very FTX whose work as a Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund had earned it a valuation of $32 billion by late November 2022. A couple of months later, reports surfaced that the company came under fraud allegations. This eventually led to the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Stephen Curry himself appeared in advertisements for the company. For the Warriors’ point guard, the truth behind FTX was as shocking as it was to everyone else.

“It went crazy sideways. And you make decisions based on the facts that you have in front of you, and you take some chances. Like obviously, nobody wanted to see it play out that way. And it’s obviously way bigger than just me being an endorser for the company and some of the names that you mentioned. But it’s one of those shots that you took that didn’t pan out,” said Curry.

“And the know, obviously the legal process is settling itself and you know, it’s unfortunate the way that it went. I think it was a shock to a lot of people, not just me. The way it turned out. You take that one on the chin and keep moving, the Warriors star added during the interview.

Stephen Curry wasn’t the only celebrity whose association with FTX placed them in the limelight after the company’s downfall. Others, like NFL legend Tom Brady and former Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal also came under fire. Brady received over $30 million in FTX stocks for his endorsement, which is now worthless. The same even earned him some rib-tickling from Nikki Glaser during the NFL star’s roast session. This happened when she stated, “How did you fall for that, Tom? Even Gronk was like, ‘Me know that not real money!’” Both Brady and his then-wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, faced lawsuits over their involvement with the brand.

As for Shaquille O’Neal, the 4x NBA champion’s work with brands like Reebok and Icy Hot, including his personal Big Chicken Brand, highlighted his standing as someone who possesses exceptional business acumen. However, his endorsement of FTX eventually emerged as a dismal decision. In fact, Shaq had to fork out $11 million to settle a class action lawsuit with investors.

The lawsuit that affected Brady and Bundchen also targeted Stephen Curry. He wasn’t the only one, as tennis star Naomi Osaka, baseball legend David “Big Papi” Ortiz, and even Kevin O’Leary, the famed face of ‘Shark Tank’, were targeted. After all, someone had to pay for the estimated $8 billion that they calculated to be the total lost assets.

Two years later, the celebrity athletes would have chosen to move on from their mistakes. However, even at the height of things, Shaq and Stephen Curry were willing to briefly not take things too seriously. Either that or Shaq was ‘sincere’ with his warning.

Months after highlighting Stephen Curry as a reason for endorsing NFTs, Shaq jokingly asked Stephen Curry to “Don’t Say Nothing”

Back in May 2023, Stephen Curry was briefly interviewed on a segment of ‘NBA on TNT’. The crew of Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith honored him for receiving the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award. As the discussion continued, Shaq took a moment to state, “I just want to say, congratulations, my brother, and thanks for getting me in trouble. Don’t say nothing”. As Curry laughed, Shaq jokingly continued by adding, “Be quiet.”

The remarks by Shaq came months after he went on the record to discuss the ads he made. As reported by CNBC, “Today, O’Neal cites his friendship with Curry as a reason he consented to appear in the ad. A spokesperson for Curry declined to comment.” In light of this, Shaq’s remarks about ‘thanks for getting me in trouble’ made more sense.

No entrepreneur has created an empire without making a few mistakes in between. For Stephen Curry and Shaquille O’Neal, their once association with FTX will remain a dark cloud for quite some time. As the three-point leader stated, however, the best that one can do in such situations is to “take that one on the chin and keep moving”.