NBA: Stephen Curry is the NBA's new money making machine

Stephen Curry during his team's historic 73rd regular season win. Photo / Getty Images

On the basketball court, it seems like there's no limit to what Steph Curry is capable of doing. The Warriors phenom might have even been better in 2015-16 than he was in his MVP campaign last season, averaging 30.1 points while making an NBA record 402 three-pointers. The fact that he did all of it while playing under 35 minutes a game (thanks to so many Warriors blowouts) makes it that much more incredible.

Yet for all the impact that Steph has had on the court, incredibly, he might be even more influential off of it. The economic boom that Curry has created is staggering - for the Warriors, for the NBA and for his endorsers as well.

There are plenty of examples, although the best yet may have come Friday from a CSN Bay Area.

According to its report, NBAStore.com isn't just "selling" Steph Curry merchandise. They're selling straight off their (digital) shelves:

"Sales of Stephen Curry merchandise rose more than 250 per cent over the past year, setting the NBAStore.com record for the best-selling player in a single season," the report stated.
A two-hundred fifty per cent jump? Are you kidding? That's not just "big," it's staggering, especially since, well, it's not like Curry came out of nowhere this season. He's the reigning MVP, was already one of the biggest stars in the league and sold the second-most jerseys in the sport just last year. So it's not like people already weren't buying Steph Curry gear. They're just buying a lot more now.

For Curry, that marketing appeal isn't just in gear but everywhere else.

There is his deal with Under Armour, a company that has become a major player in the shoe space thanks almost exclusively to Curry.

UA still represents just 1.4 per cent of the shoe market overall, according to a study by Slice Intelligence, but Curry is almost single-handedly carrying the load.

His shoe sales are up 170 per cent, according to Slice, trailing only Michael Jordan (yes, the guy who retired 13 years ago), Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in the basketball space.
Under Armour still has a long way to go to catch up with Nike, and even other retailers like Amazon and Zappos, but slowly and surely Curry is carrying it there.

"Under Armour's first major NBA endorsed player shoe line is still below Nike's line-up, but, like Steph himself, is getting increasingly popular," the Slice report claimed.

"The shoe has been 170 per cent more popular during the past six months compared to the previous half-year period.

Then there's of course Curry's impact on both his team, and the NBA itself.

It's no secret that the Warriors have become the hottest ticket in the NBA both at Oracle Arena and on the road, too. As many know, Golden State has sold out 175 straight games and counting, which resulted in more 860,000 fans attending their home games this season, tied for second-most in franchise history. On the road, the Warriors draw is "unprecedented," according to StubHub.

And oh by the way, let's not forget this too: The Warriors were also responsible for the two highest-rated games in NBATV history earlier this season, when they drew 2.5 million viewers for their matchup with the Spurs last weekend and 1.4 million for a game against San Antonio earlier this year.

Though that's not all a credit to Steph, he is largely responsible.

Which is just further proof of his staggering economic impact.

- news.com.au