Epic Fail: Curry Says No to Nike

Instead, Curry took a chance with Under Armor and hit the jackpot. Curry’s run in the 2008 NCAA Tournament was one for the record books, but we’ve seen this story time and time again. I’ll admit, Curry was lights out during the tournament and he definitely had his “one shining moment”, but if you told me a little scrawny kid from Davidson would turn out to be a six-time NBA All-Star, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a three-time NBA Champion, I’d look at you like you were crazy.

Nike literally dropped the ball on this one. From the outside looking in, we as consumers look at companies like Nike as a reputable company (thanks to Michael Jordan), but once I heard the story behind how Steph Curry passed on a deal with Nike I decided I just had to share it. I’ll spare you the setup and just get straight to it. To make a long story short, during Curry’s pitch meeting with Nike the meeting started off on the wrong foot.

Strike One

Nike didn’t send their ace broker (who also happens to be LeBron’s Nike advisor) to seal the deal.

Strike Two

The Nike representative that was sent instead mispronounced his first name; and although it was a common mistake, it's a mistake that never should happen when you deal with high-profile clients.

Strike Three (You’re Out!)

To make matters even worse, one of the PowerPoint slides used during the presentation to Curry had Kevin Durant’s name on it. With all this happening and not sending their top closer if you ask me, it was pretty clear that Nike had no intention of making Curry a signature athlete.

Fast forward to the present day, not only is Curry the face of the Under Armor Brand, but I believe his deal included making him a stakeholder in the company.

A company that’s now home to other household names like Jordan Spieth and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Curry’s estimated worth with UA is expected to be somewhere around 14 Billion. That’s a lot of zeros even for Michael Jordan.

Originally published at http://thesocialintro.com on August 3, 2019.