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Steph Curry raised $1.7 million in charity in April

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry turned his sneaker free agency tour into a massive charity donation.

Since ending his 12-year partnership with Under Armour, Curry has taken the floor in various sneaker brands, including an assortment of Nikes. From April 13 to 28, 81 pairs of these game-worn shoes were sold at auction.

According to a report by Boardroom, Curry’s massive sneaker auction drew 400-plus bidders and raked in $1.7 million for charity.

“In partnership with Sotheby’s, The Stephen Curry Collection: My Sneaker Free Agency, sold 100 percent of its 81 pairs, generating $1,721,098 for charity and averaging $21K+ per pair.”

Curry’s sneaker auction attracted bidders from nearly 30 countries and more than 2,300 total bids.

The top sale was a Christmas Day Nike Hyperdunk PE at $121,600. Additionally, the Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita Sweet 16” shoes worn by Curry on the first night of his sneaker free agency went for $76,800, and four other pairs sold for $70,400 apiece.

Proceeds will benefit the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, founded by Curry and his wife, Ayesha.

“At Eat. Learn. Play. we are so happy and grateful to be a part of this auction and to turn this sneaker free agency into a lot of impact in Oakland.”

Curry’s Foundation Has Raised Millions For Oakland

The Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, founded by Steph and Ayesha Curry in 2019, has raised and invested over $90 million in the Oakland community.

Since its inception, the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation has upgraded and renovated several youth and community facilities. In 2022, the foundation announced plans to create 150 Little Town Libraries, which would provide 50,000 free books to children throughout the community.

Over the past six years, Eat. Learn. Play. has invested over $90 million toward’s their ‘Whole Child, Whole School’ approach, which frames how the foundation serves the needs of children by addressing their well-being and the environments where they learn and grow, the foundation says in their mission statement.

“Through this approach, Eat. Learn. Play. has provided 25 million meals to Oakland kids and families, helped remodel 23 schoolyards and six gymnasiums, redesigned 14 cafeterias, and modernized three libraries across the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). In providing academic support, the foundation recently committed to closing the literacy gap by delivering one-on-one tutoring support for 10,000 OUSD students over the next five years.”

Steph Sneaker Auction Was One-of-a-Kind

With Curry arguably the highest-profile basketball player to hit sneaker free agency since Bryant in 2002, the auction was “wildly unprecedented,” Sotheby’s head of streetwear Eric LiBassi tells Front Office Sports. 

Sneaker industry insiders also noted the uniqueness of the situation.

“This gives that Curry fan a bit more access to a product that is directly connected to him, that we haven’t seen done in exactly this way or exactly at this volume,” Mike Sykes, author of the sneaker blog The Kicks You Wear, told FOS. “I’m not sure that we’ll see anything quite like it for a while, because athletes who have the profile of a Stephen Curry, they just don’t hit the market like that, right?” It’s not like Nike is going to let LeBron James go, Sykes says.

Despite being limited to 43 games this season, Curry continued to redefine shooting dominance. The Warriors star surpassed Michael Jordan for the most 30-point games by a guard after turning 30 and broke the record for the most 20-point quarters in NBA history (45). Curry extended his own record for the most games with eight or more three-pointers.