We all know Steph Curry is currently doing wonders for the Under Armour brand and according to Kent Bazemore of the Atlanta Hawks, he is the one responsible for getting things in motion to have Steph leave Nike.
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Besides the fact Under Armour was throwing a ton of money at Steph, he likely would’ve stayed with Nike a few years ago had they not reportedly blown their meeting with him. I’m sure you heard about how someone at Nike referred to Stephen as “Steph-on” and one of the images they used to try and entice Curry to stay accidentally had Kevin Durant’s logo on there, which was pretty insulting to Curry.
As you now know, Steph decided to leave the swoosh and be the pillar for the Under Armour brand and clearly it was the right move, as his sneakers, regardless of how ugly some people think they are, sell at a rate that puts him up there with Lebron, Kobe and pretty much everyone except Michael Jordan.
As it turns out though, it was Bazemore that in fact got the ball rolling to being with. During an appearance on Dan Le Batard’s radio show yesterday, Bazemore gave some details of how it happened. For those who are unaware, Bazemore started his career with the Warriors.
“I was just being a young, undrafted kid, and Under Armour gave me a product deal as an undrafted rookie. So I kind of owed it to them to represent because they went out on a limb and gave some guy who’s only playing four minutes a night these kind of shoes. And I would come into the gym everyday with new stuff. I didn’t wash clothes for like two months – I was just ripping bags open, putting on new stuff.
“He saw that, and there he is on the brink of being an All-Star – he gets two or three shoes a week or something like that.
“I’m like, ‘Dude, you can get your own shoe at Under Armour.’ And I hadn’t talked to anyone over at Under Armour. They came through and he’s definitely done so much for the brand.”
He may be onto something here, as back in November of 2015, Steph was quoted as saying “He’s like the biggest spokesperson for the brand,” says Curry, the actual biggest UA spokesperson. “Always wears new stuff, wears my stuff.”
It’s interesting to know this and it makes you feel like Under Armour owes Bazemore a big favor down the road for building the bridge for Steph to cross.
