Stephen Curry Made The Right Decision Leaving Nike For Under Armour

In an unexpected turn of events within the basketball sneaker game Stephen Curry has left Nike to sign with Under Armour. Just over a month ago I wrote about Nike's monopoly on basketball sneakers and I spoke of how Under Armour could make some moves to increase their 0.35% of sales among basketball sneakers in the market. They took a monumental step in making the brand larger as they signed Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry. Curry last season lead the Warriors averaging 23 Points and 7 Assists while leading the Warriors to the Western conference finals before eventually losing to the San Antonio Spurs.

Curry is one of the most exciting players in the NBA and one of my personal favorites. Curry joins an already solid roster of players at Under Armour basketball with guys such as Kemba Walker,Brandon Jennings, Raymond Felton, Deandre Jordan and Grievis Vazquez. Steph will certainly be the center piece of the brands marketing plan and UA seems to be heading in the right direction.

Contrary to what many people believe I honestly feel like this is a great move for Curry. As I chronicled in my article back in early September Nike sports a “who's who” of basketball players to endorse their products. Players such as Kobe Bryant, Lebron James are the centerpiece of Nike basketball and for Curry that didn't bode well because he would likely need to wait longer for his own signature sneaker. Now with Under Armour he won't have to wait as long and will get his own signature sneaker sooner rather then later. After the deal between Curry and UA was announced that the company’s shares made a 4% jump. it was also reported that Under Armour senior president of global marketing Matt Murchin feels that Curry fits the Identity of Under Armour basketball stating “Our key attributes we want to have on our team is young,underdog and next-and Steph checked those boxes.”

So with so much room to grow and build your own legacy what makes the move to Under Armour so great for Curry? Its the roster of players hes with and the positions they are currently in with their respective franchises.

Brandon Jennings has had a rough last few years in Milwaukee but with a new home in Detroit as a Piston this season he has a chance to play with some quality talent with guys like Andre Drummond, Josh Smith and Greg Monroe. The Pistons certainly have enough talent to get to the postseason and things are looking up for Detroit this season.

Kemba Walker has a revamped front court in Charlotte this season with the additions of Al Jefferson and Cody Zeller. Kemba has been overlooked his first two seasons in the league but last year managed to finish 7^th in player efficiency rating among starting point guards despite the lack of talent in the front court. With more talent this season then in his entire career Walker is looking to remind people of how great he is and lead Charlotte back to the playoffs.

The big fish in on Under Armours basketball roster isn't even on the roster yet. Now I’m not one for hypothetical s but hypothetically speaking Under Armour can land Kansas Jayhawk and Canadian basketball star Andrew Wiggins. I spoke briefly on this in my article back in September and adding Curry makes Under Armour sales pitch easier to Wiggins. In case you don't know its been reported by several people inside the sneaker industry that Wiggins after this season at Kansas will command a bidding war-the first of such since Lebron James came out of high school back in 2003.

So think of it like this, UA just landed one of the best point guards in the league to endorse their sneakers but not only that he left the premier company in Nike to join UA. If they can land Andrew Wiggins then that will be game changing for the brand and sneaker game alike because now you have marquee names. This move was the perfect scenario for Curry and if all goes as planned UA will be selling a lot higher then 0.35% of sneakers in the market in a few years.