Stephen Curry has turned the 2025-26 NBA season into a sneaker fashion show, wearing different pairs to each game. Not on purpose, he says. In November, Curry and Under Armour split, and the Golden State Warriors star became a free agent, showing up in a mix of basketball shoes that he personally loves.
If you expected smoke signals to companies, Curry keeps killing that idea. He says he’s paying tribute to players, teams, cities, and the kind of basketball history that lives in old highlights and sore ankles. Then, Thursday night in Dallas, that “tribute” plan landed in the middle of Kyrie Irving’s rough year.
Irving has spent the entire season rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered last Spring. That means he played no games and had no chance to properly debut his third signature shoe, the ANTA KAI3, on court. That’s where Curry did something a little out of the ordinary.
Before the Warriors and Mavericks tipped off at American Airlines Center, Curry reached out to Irving and asked permission to wear the KAI3. This was not a PR stunt or a sneaky endorsement tease. It was just a way to show respect and say your moment still matters, even if you can’t lace them up yourself.
Curry didn’t stop at the game shoe either. He walked around the arena in Irving’s lifestyle pair, the ANTA Hélà Style, then swapped out his usual Nike Sabrina 3 for the ANTA KAI3 in the “Chinese New Year” colorway once the game started. One night, one switch, and suddenly the loudest sneaker story in the league wasn’t about Curry’s next deal. It was about a rival getting a boost while he’s stuck watching.
Afterward, Curry explained why he wore the sneakers. “It’s nothing but mutual respect and admiration for what he’s done in his career,” Curry said after the game. “The battles that we’ve had, the deeper you get into it, you appreciate the fact that his talent kind of raised your level throughout the journey. We don’t get to spend that much time together, but there’s that mutual respect.”
With Curry’s sneaker free agency rolling on, you can bet this won’t be the last curveball he throws at the footwear world. Somebody sign this guy to a major sneaker deal already.
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