No shoe wars: ‘Enough space for all of us’
Warriors keep things in perspective
The lobby at the Ritz-Carlton isn’t always as manic as it was last week.
But the Golden State Warriors have a way of sparking hysteria whenever they visit. The week-long excursion might have been their third trip in 10 years, but the fans still lined up overnight and slept on the concrete outside in hopes of catching a glimpse of the defending NBA champions.
On Friday, Kevin Durant bounced through the lobby with his army of associates and into three shuttles that took them to a nearby Nike store and then a middle school visit.
The scene was repeated a day later when Stephen Curry and his Under Armour reps headed out to promote the launching of his new shoe, the Curry 4.
They were not the only Warriors in China mixing preseason basketball with the business of basketball.
All-Star guard Klay Thompson has his eight-year, $80 million shoe deal with Anta, a Chinese-based company that hosted his promotional event in Shenzhen.
All-Star forward Draymond Green is sponsored by Nike as well, though he turned his attention to the cap company, New Era, for an event Friday in Shanghai.
“When we come over here and we have guys go to practice and they leave and say, ‘I’ve got a Nike event over here, and I’ve
got an Under Armour event over here,’ ” Curry told USA TODAY Sports, “you just respect what everybody is doing and we all have the space to impact people.”
Curry’s impact has been enormous, much like this country of nearly 1.4 billion people. While Kobe Bryant has built a dominant brand in China, Curry is challenging the retired Los Angeles Lakers star.
Curry bypassed Bryant in China jersey sales in April, and he did it using what Warriors President Rick Welts calls “the Kobe Bryant playbook.” Bryant has visited China every year since 1998. By comparison, Curry, whose latest shoe has a “Year of the Rooster” colorway that is meant to honor the locals, has now made six trips to China during his eight-year career (three with the Warriors, and three with Under Armour). Curry was one of 25 NBA players to visit here this latest offseason.
“To be able to give them a piece of me, but something that reflects their culture and not just cut, copy and paste what we do in the states and bring it here (is important),” Curry said. “(Chinese fans) have a genuine passion for the game, and it’s kind of crazy. It shocks you how much they know about you, the lengths that they go to get up close and personal, whether it’s coming to the hotel trying to get an autograph out front, or whether it’s coming to an activation event, or coming to a preseason game.
“The culture is so different, (and) it’s something you don’t want to take for granted.”
When Curry isn’t wrestling for space in China with Bryant, he is burying the notion that a burgeoning shoe war with Durant could impact the Warriors’ harmony.
“This world is huge, and there’s enough space for all of us,” Curry said during the trip that conclud- ed Sunday. “We’re all different. We’re all unique. We all have different stories, and we try to bring that to life with the things we represent from a product standpoint and a brand standpoint.
“(The idea of ) whether it’s a competition or this kind of inner locker room rivalry or a battle of whose shoes are the most popular and all that kind of stuff, it’s not.”
It sure seemed that way six weeks ago, though.
When Durant said “nobody wants to play in Under Armours” in late August, and when Curry responded by discussing the matter with Durant and then saying his teammate’s statement “doesn’t ring true at all,” it restarted a narrative that gained life after Durant joined the Warriors in July 2015.
The conversation was inevita- ble given Durant signing a 10year deal worth up to $300 million with Nike in August 2014 and Curry is under contract with Under Armour through 2024. (His deal, which was extended in September 2015, includes ownership in the company and, according to Forbes, pays approximately $12 million annually.)
Add in the fact that the Warriors are so unbeatable on the court, winning two of the last three titles while setting an NBA record for regular-season winning percentage over a three-year span (.841), and it’s only natural that folks wonder how it might all fall apart.
Yet the only discussions that mattered on this topic took place before Durant came the Warriors’ way.
In those days before Durant committed, Curry sent a text message his way making it clear that he cared far more about championships than he did shoe sales or sharing the spotlight.
Durant had done his own detective work then too, reaching out to Curry associates to get a better sense of how he might be received.
Fast-forward to last week, and both stars were trying to put this story to bed.
In a playful picture that Curry posted to his Instagram account, both of them can be seen smiling and laughing in the Shenzhen airport with their apparel and respective logos showcased from head to toe.
“Why so serious?!?” the caption read, along with the hashtag, “#sneakerwars”
“It doesn’t affect how we see each other personally or how we (are) as teammates,” Curry said. “It’s kind of funny, because in practice we’ll make comments about each other’s shoes. And you have that kind of back and forth. Like I said, he’ll walk in and pick up something that’s up and coming from my line and go, ‘Oh, these are nice,’ or, ‘These are trash,’ and I’ll do the same thing, like normal friends and teammates would do.
“I think we all keep the right perspective about what we’re talking about in life. We’re talking about signature shoes and multibillion brands that are representing us. This is a great life that we have, and we all want to be great at it. We all want to take advantage of every opportunity that we have while we can. That’s my perspective. I don’t take it too seriously, but I do feel a sense of pride about what people feel like when they see what I have on or my brand.”
Thompson argues that the shoe deals are actually helping the Warriors.
When NBA stars land all that revenue that goes beyond their NBA paychecks, it makes it that much easier to sacrifice money in the name of roster retention.
Durant did just that in July, leaving approximately $10 million on the table in a move that had everything to do with the Warriors’ ability to re-sign super subs Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston.
Thompson recently hinted that he might be willing to do the same when he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2019, telling “The Athletic” that he’d “definitely consider” taking less if it meant keeping the roster intact.
“It’d be different if I was making scraps off the court,” Thompson said while in China. “But I’ve been very blessed to be part of a winning team. And when you’re part of a winning team, everybody gets to eat.”