LOS ANGELES — Three years ago, Stephen Curry lured De’Aaron Fox away from Nike to sign with Curry Brand, which he launched with Under Armour.
Now after the apparel company split with Curry and his eponymous brand in November after 12 years, the two All-Stars are forging separate paths in the shoe world.
Curry’s final shoe with his longtime sponsor was released Friday, and a source told Front Office Sports he has “no plans” to wear the Curry 13s as he continues to search for a new shoe company.
Despite the separation, the Warriors star kept all his intellectual property, allowing him to bring the Curry Brand name to other manufacturers.
Since the split, Curry has worn Nike, Adidas, Puma, Anta, and Li-Ning, among others. In January, he became the first athlete to wear On brand tennis shoes during pregame warm-ups. Fox has exclusively played in his own shoes—the Curry Fox 1 and 2—this season with the Spurs, according to Kixstats, which tracks what shoes players wear for games.
“I’m enjoying the free agency for sure right now,” Curry told Front Office Sports on Saturday. “I think we’re active in conversations and all that and trying to figure out what the right home, the right partner is. Whenever that becomes a reality I’ll let people know for sure.”
Meanwhile, Fox is sticking with Under Armour—for now.
“Technically I’m still an Under Armour athlete, so we’re going through that,” Fox said in response to an FOS question in Los Angeles. “But it was a lot going on. It’s funny, it was actually happening while [the Warriors] were in San Antonio. We’re still going through some stuff.”
Fox is set to release his third signature shoe with the company later this year and is targeting a fall release. As of Saturday, he said that’s still expected to happen. But while Curry is ignoring his final shoe with the company, Fox said he’s pushing Under Armour to see if he can wear his next edition sooner than its intended release date.
“I asked them if I can wear them for the playoffs, so we’re figuring that out right now,” Fox said.
