Stephen Curry is now widely regarded as one of the greats to have ever played the game, but unlike LeBron James and Kevin Durant, it didn’t always seem like he was destined for greatness. Curry struggled with injuries early on in his career, and while he was still pretty good, few could have foreseen what he was going to turn into after 2014.
Nike certainly didn’t have the slightest idea back in 2013, when Curry was looking to re-sign with them, as their efforts during the meeting can be described as lackluster at best. A Nike official mispronounced his name while the presentation they had prepared had Durant’s name on it. Curry’s father Dell stopped paying attention when he saw that, and the two were clearly put off by the meeting.
Curry then ended up signing with Under Armour, and while that was going against the grain, Steph said that signing his rookie extension prior to the 2012-13 season allowed him to take that risk, and well, the rest is history. Nike letting him leave is seen as one of the biggest business blunders in history, and Nico Harrison, who at the time was Vice President of North American basketball operations for the company, has had his name attached to it for all these years. Harrison clarified during a recent appearance on the Point Forward podcast that it wasn’t him who got the pronunciation wrong.
(starts at 9:15 mark):
“Well, listen, so there is an article out, and the article says I mispronounced his name. It wasn’t me. It absolutely wasn’t me. But they didn’t know the other person, they knew me. So, they say I mispronounced his name because it’s sexy. But I’m like, first of all, I’ve known this guy forever, like since he was in high school. I used to rep his dad. How am I going to mispronounce? I might have called him Seth, but I wasn’t going to mispronounce his name. So yeah, I mean, Nike made a mistake, but in all honesty, if he would have stayed with Nike, his business would be a monster right now. A monster.”
Sure, Curry’s business would have been great if he had stayed at Nike, but he is doing pretty well for himself with Under Armour, as he is the face of the brand.
As for Harrison, he absolved himself of all blame with regards to getting the pronunciation wrong, but we can wonder about the presentation part, which was arguably the bigger mistake. Harrison is now the General Manager for the Dallas Mavericks after quitting Nike in 2021, which brought to an end a very successful time with the company, with the exception of the Curry deal.
