After Losing Steph Curry, Will Kelsey Plum Be the Next Star to Leave Under Armour?

As if things couldn’t get any worse for Under Armour Basketball, they might be losing their second biggest star after already fumbling Stephen Curry and Curry Brand. Prior to publication of this story, Sole Retriever reached out to both Under Armour and representatives for Kelsey Plum for comment but did not receive a response.

Back in January, eagle eye hoop sleuths noticed that Under Armour athlete and WNBA star Kelsey Plum was lacing up kicks from rival brand adidas in Unrivaled matchups. When questioned about it, the brand tried to calm the storm and assure everyone that Plum was still with UA.

"We were recently made aware of an issue impacting Kelsey's training and performance,” said a spokesperson for Under Armour. “We are working closely with her and her team on a solution to support her needs."

One might assume Under Armour would work quickly to craft a solution for Plum, as they initially stated they would, but new shoes aren’t created overnight — so we kind of saw the writing on the wall. And we’re guessing Kelsey Plum has, too.

Even still, Under Armour has innovation labs and the resources to make things happen when they want to. It's one of the reasons Steph stayed with UA so long — their ability to innovate and iterate on products for him. Sources within UA's lab told Sole Retriever that crafting something for Kelsey realistically would have taken a matter of weeks, not months. Something should have been done by now, especially for an athlete of Kelsey's caliber and stardom. Which begs the question — was this ever really a priority for them?

Steph Curry is long gone, wearing every brand under the sun even though UA is still dropping colorways of his signature shoe until this fall when the divorce becomes final. So, if Curry isn’t beholden to his exclusive Under Armour contract and can wear whatever he wants, why would Kelsey be?

After those initial reports of Plum rocking adidas on-court in Unrivaled, we kept an eye on the situation and guess what, she hasn’t put on a pair of Under Armour sneakers on-court since. It’s been all adidas on the court for the superstar. And now with FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying underway in Puerto Rico, it's been more of the same. That "solution" Under Armour promised still hasn't materialized.

If it truly is a performance issue with Under Armour's footwear and they have yet to present her with a working solution, what exactly are they supposed to do — force her to wear shoes that don't work for her and risk an injury? Because that's not a position any brand wants to be in. You either fix the problem or you let your athlete protect herself. And right now, it looks like Kelsey is doing what's best for Kelsey, which is exactly what she should be doing.

If Plum does, in fact, leave Under Armour when her deal comes to an end, that will decimate the brand’s basketball operations even further. Just De’Aaron Fox is left holding the torch after being transitioned from a Curry Brand athlete to Under Armour in the fallout of Steph leaving, and the brand is clearly not investing in its basketball division. If KP ends up signing to a brand that's actually investing in women's basketball right now, it's hard to imagine they'd undervalue her the way UA seemingly has.

PS - Anybody know if Pete Davidson can hoop?

Drew London

Drew oversees content at Sole Retriever and hates writing in the 3rd person soooo I'm going to stop. I've written for countless blogs and magazines, from Complex to XXL and everywhere in between. Spent a long time in LA, running content and working on branded collabs at The Hundreds. Now, I'm back home on the East Coast freezing my ass off. Email me at drew@soleretriever.com with scoops, story ideas, and size 13 heat.