Steph Curry’s Under Armour Split Brings an End to the Worst-Ever Hoops Shoe Era

Perhaps the biggest free agency news of the NBA season so far broke last Friday, when it was abruptly announced that Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry would be parting ways with Under Armour, his sneaker and sportswear partner of 12 years. Curry came to UA in 2013 after then-Nike Basketball director Nico Harrison botched a meeting between the Swoosh and the Chef by showing a presentation intended for another athlete. (Somehow, that’s no longer the most embarrassing moment of Harrison’s professional career.) The future champ jumped ship and signed with UA, a company that had yet to make any real impression in the basketball market. With one of the defining hoopers of a generation now as their face, the brand dove headfirst into the competitive world of signature shoes. Together, Steph and UA produced 12 silhouettes (going on 13—one last UA Curry shoe will still drop next year) and, in 2020, established Curry Brand under the UA umbrella—an ostensibly separate entity from its parent company, meant to mirror the relationship between Jordan Brand and Nike.

That all sounds impressive, but quite frankly, Curry deserved a far better fate in the sneaker world. He is a two-time MVP, four-time NBA champion, and an 11-time All-Star. His shooting prowess quite literally changed how the game of basketball is played. He has a near-universal approval rating among fans. He should’ve been the face of an equally excellent signature line, on par with the LeBrons and the Kobes of the world. Instead, he’ll likely best be remembered by sneakerheads for playing at the peak of his powers in nurse shoes.

UA Currys are, it has to be said, not…cool. I know one person who wears them in real life and that person is my dad, a very biased 71-year-old alumni of Curry’s alma mater, Davidson College. The performance tech has always been solid, but the silhouettes and colorways themselves have largely been anonymous at best and ugly at worst. They hardly reflect Curry’s magnetic appeal or the majesty of his game. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that Steph and his Under Armour line might represent the single greatest gap between an athlete’s reputation on the court and the reputation of his signature shoes.

To be fair, Curry’s generation of NBA superstars—including Paul George, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and others—have largely been saddled with the weakest era of signature sneakers of all time. Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, and their competitors all failed pretty miserably at creating sneakers that reflected the talent and allure of these players. There are rare standouts—Kyrie Irving’s Nike era had genuine hype, and Kevin Durant’s line has long been reliable—but most have been homogenous white noise, clunky shoes that no one would dare even consider wearing off the court. There’s been a lot of noise to rise above over the last decade, and yet all the UA Curry line ever needed to truly take off was one genuinely great sneaker. They somehow never even managed that.

While it was announced that Curry Brand will continue on as a fully independent entity, it’s unclear at the moment exactly what that will mean—whether Steph will bring it to another sportswear partner to produce his shoes and apparel going forward, or attempt to Big Baller Brand it and do it himself. (There’s also no word on how De’Aaron Fox’s signature sneaker line will be affected—he’s technically a Curry Brand athlete, not an Under Armour one.) When the Under Armour Curry 13 hits stores in February, Steph isn’t actually contractually obligated to play in them; in the meantime, he’s been lacing up a clean pair of Kobe 6s.