How a Golden Era Fell Apart: Inside the Breakdown of Stephen Curry’s Under Armour Partnership

For more than a decade, Stephen Curry and Under Armour looked inseparable – a superstar and a sportswear underdog rising together, rewriting basketball, culture, and commerce in real time. From the moment Curry laced up his first signature shoe with the Maryland-based brand, it felt like a partnership built to last a lifetime.

But 13 years later, the relationship has quietly unraveled. With Curry Brand now a free agent and his 13th signature sneaker set to be Under Armour’s final release in February 2026, the end has prompted a question few imagined would ever need answering: How did a seemingly unbreakable bond fall apart?

Longtime sneaker industry insider Nick Engvall believes the clues were always there – hidden not in sensational twists, but in subtle missteps and a fundamental mismatch in understanding.

A Partnership Born with Promise

When Curry arrived at Under Armour, he was not yet the cultural force he would become. The brand, known more for compression shirts than courtside swagger, was eager to take a risk. Engvall recalls the early years fondly, pointing to bold innovations like the Anatomix and Micro G models – shoes that signaled ambition and a willingness to challenge the giants of the industry.

Curry’s first two signature sneakers validated that courage. They sold well, inspired flashy marketing, and introduced designs that felt fresh. On paper, the momentum suggested Under Armour was on the cusp of something historic.

But beneath the surface, Engvall argues, the company didn’t quite understand the world it had stepped into.

The Cultural Disconnect

“Looking at it now, I don’t think Under Armour ever understood what they had,” Engvall wrote on The Sneaker Newsletter.

His critique is not about technology or performance – areas where Under Armour held its own. Instead, he points to culture, the intangible currency that separates shoes that function from shoes that matter.

“Basketball shoes aren’t just performance products; they’re status symbols, fashion statements, cultural artifacts. Nike understands this. Adidas understands this. Under Armour thought they were making athletic equipment when they should have been making art.”

As Curry shattered three-point records, transformed the way the game is played, and reshaped youth basketball across the world, the line bearing his name remained strangely disconnected from the energy around him. Kids worshipped him – but they weren’t wearing his shoes. Teens mimicked his shooting form – but not his fashion.

The star rose; the product stayed flat.

Missed Moments and Abandoned Gold

Engvall believes the disconnect became most glaring during Curry’s peak championship years, when his cultural influence should have pushed the Curry line into the upper echelon of basketball sneaker businesses. Instead, Curry Brand reportedly hovered between $100 million and $120 million annually – sturdy but nowhere near breakout territory. Meanwhile, Jordan Brand soared past $5 billion.

To Engvall, the missed opportunity wasn’t due to lack of effort, money, or athlete performance. It was a failure of imagination.

“Under Armour had all the pieces,” he wrote. “They had the right athlete at the right time. They had initial momentum. They even had decent technology… the shoes performed well on court.”

What they lacked, he argues, was the cultural fluency to trust their early instincts. The chunky, experimental designs that defined the first Curry era – shoes that once drew side-eyes – are exactly the aesthetic dominating today’s sneaker trends.

“And the saddest part?” Engvall added. “Those chunky, strap-heavy early designs they abandoned? They’d be fire in today’s market… They were sitting on gold and traded it for whatever the Curry 2 Low ‘Chef’ was supposed to be.”

What Comes Next

Now, with Under Armour and Curry Brand officially parting ways, the basketball world is on edge, speculating about which company will secure the game’s greatest shooter. Nike? Adidas? A tech-driven newcomer? A completely new venture?

Where Curry lands next will define the next decade of basketball footwear – but the story of how he got here will remain a cautionary tale.

A superstar changed the sport. A brand tried to keep up. And somewhere between innovation, culture, and missed chances, one of basketball’s most promising partnerships simply faded away.