Under Armour wants to get a foothold in the baskeball shoe market — they have a rising star in Stephen Curry under contract, plus some other guys like Kemba Walker and Brandon Jennings. But they swung for the fences this summer offering Kevin Durant at least $265 million over 10 years, which Nike has matched (sort of, it’s a modified offer) to keep KD with the swoosh.
Under Armour endorser Kent Bazemore tried to shoot out a tweet to KD about his choice, but Nike guy and Golden State Warrior Andre Iguodala shot him down.
https://twitter.com/andre/statuses/506260070426886144
Ouch.
I think we need to ask if Iguodala really has a shot here, first. Halle Berry is still married and living most of the time in France with her husband, at least according to my cursory Web search on this topic. So that’s a couple big strikes against Iguodala. But she did marry an athlete before, former baseball star David Justice (she also dated Heavy D and Wesley Snipes, among others).
I don’t know that KD was all that far from going to Under Armour. Sure, what he and Roc Nation Sports really wanted (and got) was more money out of Nike but to continue the KD line. They got it. Well played. But if Nike hadn’t decided to match, would KD have really jumped?
It’s moot now. Kind of like Iguodala and Berry, I suspect.
(Hat tip to Eye on Basketball.)
