Celebrity: Stephen Curry
Brand: Rakuten & CANVVS
Represented By: Octagon
Deal Type: Brand Ambassador / Campaign Partnership
Announced: February 2026
Impact: Elevates underrepresented sneaker designers, gives Arthur Nash a 10,000 dollar prize and exclusive retail platform, and strengthens Rakuten’s position at the intersection of sports, culture, and cashback shopping.
- Stephen Curry served as lead judge for Rakuten and CANVVS’ 2026 Art of the Game Custom Sneaker Competition, a campaign designed to spotlight underrepresented talent in the sneaker design industry.
- Independent creator Arthur Nash was crowned the winner on February 20, 2026, walking away with a $10,000 prize for his design, the Flotro CurrDoodle.
- Nash’s winning sneaker is now exclusively available to Rakuten members, who also earn 10% Cash Back on their purchase.
- The judging panel also featured Taboo, Katty Customs, and Dan Gamache.
Stephen Curry is making moves off the court.
The Golden State Warriors point guard has teamed up with shopping platform Rakuten and custom sneaker community CANVVS for the 2026 Art of the Game Custom Sneaker Competition: a campaign built to give underrepresented sneaker designers a shot at the spotlight.
Curry, who has served as Rakuten’s Global Brand Ambassador since 2019, stepped into the role of lead judge alongside Taboo, Katty Customs, and Dan Gamache.
The competition invited independent creators from around the world to submit original sneaker designs, with the best rising to the top through a rigorous judging process.
On February 20th, the competition crowned Arthur Nash as the winner. His design (the Flotro CurrDoodle) stood out from the pack, earning him a $10,000 prize and a full production run.
Curry himself said he was drawn to designs with a strong storytelling element. “I’m a sucker for a good story. There are a lot of different ways to tell a story on a shoe,” he shared.
Nash’s winning sneaker is now exclusively available to Rakuten members, who can shop it while earning 10% Cash Back, one of the platform’s signature perks. It’s a full-circle moment: a competition built on inclusion, ending with a real, wearable product for fans to own.
This campaign fits neatly into Curry’s broader mission of creating opportunities for overlooked talent; the same ethos behind his long-running Underrated Tour for prep basketball players, which Rakuten also sponsors.
Just like Jayson Tatum starring in Amica’s Back to Zero campaign and Kyrie Irving fronting a new campaign for Anta, Curry’s partnership proves that today’s NBA stars aren’t just athletes, they’re cultural architects.
Takeaways
This campaign is bigger than a sneaker drop, it’s a cultural statement. Curry and Rakuten didn’t just put their logo on a product; they built a platform that actively invested in a creator who might never have had this shot otherwise.
Arthur Nash walking away with $10,000 and a production deal is the kind of real-world impact that separates meaningful brand campaigns from forgettable ones.
It’s also a masterclass in brand loyalty. Curry has been with Rakuten since 2019, and rather than let the partnership go stale, they’ve evolved it into something rooted in community, creativity, and culture; giving both sides a fresh and compelling story to tell.
For brands and athletes eyeing similar moves, this campaign is a blueprint. And for sneakerheads and emerging designers? The message is clear: the door is open.
Should more stars follow Curry’s lead and build platforms for emerging talent rather than just fronting standard commercials? What does Curry’s consistent off-court brand building mean for his legacy beyond basketball?
