Warriors’ Steph Curry Acknowledges Michael Jordan’s Legacy But Vows to be Different With His Brand

Steph Curry has been one of the most influential basketball players in recent times. He has been the cornerstone of a Golden State Warriors team which has won 3 championships in the last 6 seasons.

Recently, Curry and Under Armour launched a new brand. He now becomes only the third basketball player besides Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade to have his own brand.

When asked about how he felt about the same in a recent Sports Illustrated interview, Curry said, “It’s kind of wild, bro, to be honest. It’s very surreal.”‘

“I know a lot of people like to link it with Jordan Brand in terms of having a legacy brand attached to the company, and he is the GOAT standard of success when it comes to doing that, but we are going to do it a different way and something that is authentic to me.”

He added, “And again we are trying to plant our flag and just live out the purpose we are setting out to do with everything that we do and that for when it comes to product, when it comes to marketing, when it comes to our community give-back and our initiatives, all those things will be true to who I am and true to anybody that wants to participate and change the game for good.”

How a presentation goof-up cost Nike from signing Steph Curry

Nike had signed Steph Curry before he became a superstar. The contract with the company was coming to an end in the 2012-13 season, the season in which Curry led the Golden State Warriors to their 2nd playoff appearance in 19 years.

Curry was still not considered a tier-one player in the NBA by Nike, he was not their priority. He was not given his own summer camp like fellow players Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving were.

According to Steph’s father Dell, who was present, the meeting kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as ‘Steph-on’.

Dell Curry said, “I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before, I wasn’t surprised. I was surprised that I didn’t get a correction.”

It just got worse for Nike. They were presenting to Curry but had a slide that featured Kevin Durant’s name accidentally. Dell Curry said, “I stopped paying attention after that” and rather resorted to “keep a poker face.” This was enough for Steph to consider other brands and options.

At the same time, Under Armour was interested in the 6-time All-Star. The brand might not be the market leader but has the utmost service towards their signed players. Now Curry and Under Armour are launching their own brand.