Kevin Durant drops blunt Nike opinion about Steph Curry's sneaker free agency originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
After a stunning, mutual split from his 12-year shoe partnership with Under Armour, Warriors star Steph Curry officially is a sneaker free agent.
Even in Year 17 of Curry’s illustrious NBA career, companies still are clamoring to join forces with the 3-point King — but Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant would like to see his former Warriors teammate land with the largest.
“That would be incredible. I hope that happens,” Durant told Kay Adams on Friday of Curry potentially joining athletic apparel giant Nike. “Yeah. No disrespect to Under Armour, [but] he should have always been a Nike athlete.
“But he built his brand, and this is an exciting time for him to be able to choose and to have people out there that want to still want your services at 37. You can just tell his legacy and his brand is intact, you know. He’s a free agent, and it feels like it’s still a rookie, you know what I’m saying?”
Durant became the third player in NBA history to sign a lifetime contract with Nike in April 2023, after a years-long relationship dating back to 2007 and featuring 15 different sets up shoes up to that point. Since signing his original $60 million rookie endorsement deal with the company — the second-largest at the time behind LeBron James — Durant has released 18 versions of his Nike KD shoes, with a 19th reportedly scheduled for release next summer.
Curry famously started his NBA career as a Nike athlete, but an uninspiring sales pitch to retain him caused the Warriors star to join forces with Under Armour in 2013, where he launched Curry Brand in 2020. But now what seemed to be a lifetime partnership there has ended, announced by Under Armour on Nov. 13, and Curry made his first post-split appearance wearing Mambacita Kobe 6 Nike shoes during pregame warmups the next day.
“I know it’s just weird seeing me in anything else other than my own shoes,” Curry acknowledged that night after dropping 49 points in the Warriors’ 109-108 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. “But just the idea of what he meant. I’ve talked about Kobe a lot. And that specific pair, I think it speaks for itself and what it means. Other than that, it’s just something that I wanted to take advantage of that moment and pay tribute.
“I think it gave me some good energy tonight.”
That wasn’t the only time Curry has been spotted in Nike shoes recently, either.
Could Nike give Curry more good energy moving forward? Durant certainly hopes so — but only time will tell.
