Sonny Vaccaro says Steph Curry was Nike's biggest mistake: 'This is the hardest pill for Nike to swallow'

Nike has always made the right move in its NBA business. In 1984, Nike saw the potential in Michael Jordan that Adidas did not. 19 years later, Nike beat Reebok in the bidding war on high school phenom LeBron James. Just recently, it beat the competition to the gun in signing Victor Wembanyama.

But in 2013, Nike made an uncharacteristic blunder. For some reason, they took for granted Steph Curry and lost him to Under Armour in one of the biggest coups against the shoe giant. Up to that point, Nike always won the biggest shoe free-agent wars. But not that time.

"He went to Davidson," said former shoe exec Sonny Vaccaro. "He was always overlooked. He was skinny, he was frail, he was all the things you weren't supposed to be. He never got his due. All of a sudden, like a bolt of lightning, Steph Curry is on the scene. And this is the hardest thing for Nike to swallow right now."

Lost to a company that wasn't even its competition

Losing Steph to Under Armour was like a championship team getting upset by an opponent who had the worst record in the league. Not only did Nike have all the muscle to do so, but Curry was also a Nike athlete for four years. All they had to do was re-sign him.

But as they say, the only ones Nike doesn't get are the ones it is sold on. However, considering that the 2012-13 season was Steph's breakout year, it was crazy how Nike did not recognize the potential of what was to come.

"What you're witnessing is a phenomenon," added Vaccaro. "This is like Michael signing with Nike in '84. He's going to morph into the most recognizable athlete. And why is he going to be that? Because he's like everybody else."

Nico Harrison admitted Nike's fault

Current Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, who was Nike's sports marketing director at that time and presided over the meeting, acknowledged that the Swoosh brand blew the chance to re-sign Curry with amateur mistakes. He admitted Curry would have been a massive business today if he stayed.

"So yeah, Nike made a mistake," admitted Harrison in a 2022 interview on the Point Forward podcast. "In all honesty, if he would have stayed with Nike, his business would be a monster right now. A monster."

Considering Curry has won four championships, two MVPs, one Finals MVP, and a gold medal in the Olympics, Nike lost an opportunity. Now, the billions that UA makes off Steph are peanuts compared to Nike's bottom line figure; how they lost him will always haunt them.