Curry’s sneaker moment

Stephen Curry did not play in Golden State’s April 9 game against the Los Angeles Lakers, but he still walked into Chase Center wearing a pair that stole attention: LeBron James’ Nike LeBron 10 iD in Warriors colors. NBC Bay Area reported that the shoes were white, blue, and gold, and that Curry had first worn the same pair back in March 2013. (nbcbayarea.com) That is why the shoe hit looked strange at first glance. Curry built his modern sneaker identity with Under Armour after leaving Nike in 2013, and Sports Illustrated reported in February 2026 that the Curry 13 was his final signature shoe with Under Armour after the two sides split in November 2025. (si.com) Since that split, Curry has been in full sneaker free agency. Complex reported that he and Under Armour announced their parting on November 13, 2025, and since then he has shown up in Nike, Adidas, Li-Ning, Reebok, New Balance, and other brands instead of locking into one label. (complex.com) So this was not a random old pair from the closet. It was a Nike shoe tied to LeBron James, customized in Golden State colors, brought back 13 years later for a Lakers-Warriors night when LeBron was in the building and Curry was sidelined with knee injury management. (nbcbayarea.com) The timing added another layer. NBC Bay Area noted that Curry and James had not faced each other on the court this season because both stars had missed games, and that if Curry had played on April 9, it would have been the 57th matchup of a rivalry that already spans four straight Finals from 2015 through 2018. (nbcbayarea.com) LeBron noticed immediately. Multiple same-day reports said James greeted Curry before the game, and the whole moment landed less like product placement and more like one superstar wearing another superstar’s jersey number on his feet. (sports.yahoo.com) That is why fans treated the shoes like a highlight. Curry is one of the few players whose pregame footwear now gets tracked almost like a box score, and Complex has turned his 2025-26 free-agent rotation into a running log because each pair doubles as a clue about where he might sign next, or who he is nodding to that night. (complex.com) There was also a small bit of basketball history folded into the choice. The Warriors-Lakers game featured two players who have combined for eight National Basketball Association championships since 2012, and Curry wearing a 2013 LeBron model turned that history into a wearable callback instead of a tribute video. (nbcbayarea.com) Nike is not selling a Stephen Curry signature shoe today, and Nike’s current Curry page is just team apparel and jerseys rather than a footwear line. That made the image even louder: the most famous player on the market in sneaker free agency showing up in an old LeBron shoe that was once made in his own team colors. (nike.com) In a regular-season game where Curry never checked in, the loudest crossover happened before tipoff. It was LeBron’s signature model, Curry’s colors, a 2013 design, and a 2026 audience that understood the reference instantly. (nbcbayarea.com)