The new multiyear sneaker deal between the Kings’ speedster and the Warriors star’s Curry Brand will include a Fox signature shoe line.
One of the top sneaker free agents on the market is officially off the board, as the multiyear footwear and apparel endorsement deal between Sacramento Kings star De’Aaron Fox and Curry Brand will forge a bridge between the current and future of the NBA’s point guard position.
“I couldn’t think of a better athlete and person to join the Curry Brand team,” said Stephen Curry, President of Curry Brand, the point guard’s footwear and apparel subsidiary within Under Armour.
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A key pillar of the agreement is that Fox will also be designing and releasing his own Curry Brand signature basketball shoe.
The deal was, in fact, “finalized” earlier this summer — not this week. In signing on as the first Curry Brand signature athlete, Fox joins NIL standout and UConn star Azzi Fudd, who has been a featured brand ambassador since 2021.
After the Fox and Curry Brand teams initially met during NBA All-Star Weekend in February, ongoing conversations through the spring led to a meeting in California in July, where the partnership was fully mapped out and landed. The following day, Fox and Curry took part in a photoshoot together.
During the shoot, initial design brainstorm sessions and ideation work began, focused on creating player exclusive footwear colorways for Fox’s upcoming season.
The starting points of designing the eventual Fox signature shoe also got underway, with Fox directly suggesting design details and key features he is looking to see on his debut shoe.
The “long form” contract was finalized and signed by Fox on September 12th, weeks before training camp began.
Indeed, it is the dynamic of developing a Curry Brand signature shoe headlined by another player that is a first for the newly-formed brand powered by UA, which launched in late 2020. Curry’s signature venture was first launched in 2015, just ahead of his first NBA championship in the Curry 1 — he is now on his 11th signature shoe.
The deal between Curry and Fox comes at the 10-year anniversary mark of when Curry first signed with Under Armour in October 2013. Their tandem photoshoot took place at Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda, California, where Curry’s very first Under Armour photoshoot was held, a decade ago.
While several brands vied for Fox’s talents throughout his 2022-23 All-Star season that saw the Sacramento Kings make the playoffs for the first time in 16 years, Fox ultimately signed with Curry Brand for the opportunity to partner directly with a peer, competitor, and mentor in Curry.
“Words really can’t describe the excitement that I have bringing my own influence and perspective to this partnership alongside Stephen, Under Armour, and Curry Brand,” Fox said. “I can’t wait to show the world what’s next for Curry Brand.”
What’s next? The aforementioned signature sneaker is being designed in conjunction with Fox by rising Curry Brand designer Ed Wallace and is slated to release sometime during the Fall 2024 launch window.
Not only will Fox become just the fourth basketball athlete to receive his own signature shoe with Under Armour, but the Curry and Fox partnership also marks the first time in league history that an active NBA player has signed another current player to a signature shoe deal under their own brand.
“To have somebody that believes in what you’re doing, believes in what the brand stands for, and believes in not just being a Curry Brand athlete, but taking that and building that into your identity as a player, is special,” added Curry.
Although Fox wore a rotation of shoes from Converse, Nike, New Balance, and Curry Brand early on during his sneaker free agency window this past season, eventually, preference won out.
The Kings’ franchise player took a liking to playing only in shoes with Under Armour’s Flow technology, including the Curry 10, Curry 4 Flotro, and Curry 1 Flotro.
“The best shoes I’ve ever played in,” he told a camera crew in Lake Tahoe over the summer while watching Curry’s final round at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament.
(Yes, Stephen won.)
In addition to the footwear runway between the two, both Fox and Curry will also be partnering on a series of giveback initiatives that sync back to Curry Brand’s charging tagline, “Change The Game For Good.”
Fox will take on a featured role at Stephen’s annual Curry Camp each summer, where top high school players receive hands-on guidance and advice from the two-time MVP and his entire orbit of coaches, trainers, and business partners.
”I have always said that my work on the court means nothing if I can’t utilize my platform to do good,” Fox said. “I have always admired what Stephen has done with Under Armour for the basketball community.”
As Curry enters his 15th NBA season with four rings to his name, the 35-year-old can’t help but look beyond. After all, it was Fox and the Kings who took the Golden State Warriors to a closely contested seven-game series in the opening round of last year’s playoffs. The two will face off again tomorrow in Sacramento.
With his proverbial President of Curry Brand hat on, the generational point guard sees in the 25-year-old Fox someone who shares a superstar path in the game, yet also holds values centered around family, intent, dedication, and community that are core to Curry’s story.
“That’s exactly why we chose De’Aaron,” Curry said. “He believes in Curry Brand and our mission as much as he believes in himself on the court. I’m grateful to have a partner that is so dedicated to our brand and invested in what our collective future holds.”
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