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The two-time MVP looks down at his feet to talk about the inspiration of the many colors. The left sneaker (for San Francisco) and right sneaker (for Oakland) each move a little as he examines either side, breaking down the differences.
“It kind of ties San Francisco and Oakland together,” Curry continues. “[There are] stark differences even though they’re right next to each other, connected by the Bay Bridge, which we call out. The Golden Gate Bridge as well, the fog on the San Francisco side, the sunsets and the sunrises on the Oakland side.”
The “What the Bay” colorway is available on UA.com beginning February 14.
Curry spent a decade seeing those Oakland sunsets and sunrises. The Warriors played in The Town’s renowned Oracle Arena all the way up until 2019. His first regular-season game at Oracle was on October 28, 2009, and he played in the building’s final game, on June 13, 2019. When Chase Center in San Francisco opened up for its first regular-season matchup on October 24, 2019, Curry was in action, emerging from Karl the Fog. All of this time in the Bay has taught him about what basketball means to the 415 and the 510.
“Basketball and culture are so tied together,” Curry says of the Bay. “The franchise has had a very interesting journey through the years, you know, playing on both sides of the Bridge, the championship that they won back in ’74-75, and then, you know, the 40-year drought until we won it in ’14-15.”
Led by Rick Barry and Jamaal “Silk” Wilkes, that ’74-75 Warriors squad pulled off an amazing four-game sweep of a talented Washington Bullets team. It was enough to capture a whole generation of Dubs fans, who then passed down their love for the team through the years to generations that followed. The growing faithful saw incredible talent like Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Latrell Sprewell, Chris Webber, Antawn Jamison, Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and so many others come through. The ravenous crowd was the sixth man for the outrageous “We Believe” playoff run in 2007, when the eighth-seeded Warriors defeated the one-seeded Mavericks, led by Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki. By the time Curry had taken the League by storm in the mid-2010s, Warriors Ground was a solidified fortress. The whole League knew how formidable, even rabid, Warriors fans were. Inside Oracle, the 19,596 fans constantly came together to form a chorus that was both deafening and defining.
“Oracle is home,” Curry said in a 2019 video released by the Dubs. “It’s where I find the most joy playing basketball. I’ve experienced a lot in Oracle. I really grew up as a basketball player there. It will always be my first home in the NBA.”
But the fans who loved Curry back at Oracle still love him at Chase Center. The faithful are still the faithful.
