Steph Curry played in Nike shoes for the first time since 2013 when the Golden State Warriors visited the Utah Jazz on Monday night. Curry rocked the Nike Sabrina 3 “Clay Green” colorway, with the shoe’s primary user, WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu, in attendance.
Curry proceeded to hit six 3-pointers and score 31 points in the game as Golden State emerged victorious with a 134-117 blowout win over Utah. After the game, Steph was asked about wearing Sabrina’s shoe, and he mentioned that he once tried to lure her to the Curry Brand before she signed with Nike.
“We have a long history. She’s from the Bay and just following her career. And there was a time when she was coming out of school, that I was trying to get her to Curry Brand. It’s hard to get an Oregon Duck to leave Nike,” said Curry.
There was no way Curry Brand was luring Sabrina from Nike
No school in the United States is closer to Nike than the University of Oregon. Not only is Nike’s headquarters located in Beaverton, Oregon, but its founder, Phil Knight, got his Bachelor of Business Administration degree there. As an alumnus, Knight has made an unbelievably generous donation of over $1 billion to the school and its athletics department.
Several buildings on the school’s campus in Eugene are named after members of Knight’s family. These include the William H. Knight Law Center, named after his father, and the Matthew Knight Arena, in honor of his son. Meanwhile, the Phil Knight Library and the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerated Impact are named after the founder of Nike.
As such, the school’s sports teams are well provided by Nike. Ionescu played four years for the Ducks and was the second player to win the AP Women’s College Basketball Player of the Year award unanimously in 2020. As expected, Sabrina signed with Nike after college, and her signature shoe is one of the brand’s top sellers, already on its third silhouette.
Steph frowned over UA’s inability to sign Caitlin Clark?
Curiously, Ionescu isn’t the only top female basketball player that Curry wanted to join Under Armour. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, one of the reasons for his recent split with his longtime shoe sponsor was its inability to land Caitlin Clark in a bidding war against Nike.
“One sore point for Curry was the attempt last year to recruit Caitlin Clark to join his brand, according to people familiar with the matter,” the report by Kim Bhasin and Randall Williams claimed. “He and the company pursued the phenom, but Under Armour’s offer trailed the total value of Nike’s pitch, the people said.”
Reports said UA offered Clark a mere four-year, $16 million deal, while Nike countered with an 8-year, $28 million offer plus a provision for a signature shoe, which she accepted. Nike recently unveiled Caitlin’s logo, and her shoe is expected to debut next year, with industry experts predicting sales of over $100 million.
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