• by Sarah Mahoney , November 14, 2025

Under Armour’s struggles are no secret. But its announcement that it is parting ways with Steph Curry — the NBA’s greatest shooter and the athlete who was supposed to anchor UA’s basketball ambitions — stunned fans and sneaker analysts. Curry, the legendary three-point shooter who plays for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, joined Under Armour in 2013. The move was considered a corporate victory -- and a blow against rivals. Then in 2020, it deepened the relationship by  building out its basketball franchise under the Curry brand.

Morningstar analyst David Swartz called the reversal “stunning,” adding that “the reversal can only be seen as a failure by Under Armour to build a legitimate basketball business. Although the firm's signing of Curry away from Nike in 2013 was seen as a huge win, his signature shoes have long had underwhelming sales and low collectability.”

Indeed, he notes that the company’s basketball shoe sales, including the Curry brand, account for just 2% of Under Armour's total sales.

In the announcement, Kevin Plank, the Baltimore-based company’s founder and CEO, thanked Curry for all he had brought to the partnership. “This moment is about discipline and focus on the core UA brand during a critical stage of our turnaround. And for Stephen, it's the right moment to let what we created evolve on his terms. We'll always be grateful for what he's brought to the UA team." 

Fans are eager to see what comes next. “The Curry-Under Armour partnership was special because it combined two brands that weren’t supposed to be big in basketball,” writes Jason Jones, covering the story for The Athletic. “Curry spent his first four NBA seasons with Nike. He showed signs of stardom early, but who could have predicted he’d become one of the greatest players ever? That progression added to the legend of the partnership.”

He adds that Curry, who made Under Armour matter in basketball, “now has the opportunity to do that for another company.”

Matt Powell, a leading sneaker analyst, wrote on LinkedIn that “paying Curry $20 million for less than $100 million in sales is a money losing proposition. UA could not afford that loss.” He predicts UA may cancel other contracts as well.

The split lands as Under Armour posts yet another quarter of declining sales, with revenue falling 5% to $1.3 billion. In  North America, sales dropped 8%. They also decreased in almost every channel: wholesale, direct  to consumer and ecommerce, which now accounts for 28% of the company’s sales. For the quarter, it posted a net loss of $19 million.

It is chugging along on its restructuring plan, which CNBC points out has included a revolving door of leadership. And it now expects full-year revenue to slip 4% to 5%, with North American sales forecast to sink in the high single digits in North America and Asia-Pacific.

CNBC also notes the big changes in the category, with Nike (which famously mispronounced Curry’s name in botched efforts to retain him) and Adidas losing market share to better-performing upstarts, including Hoka and On.