NBA ballers masquerade for fashion – or just a charade on draft night

When did we decide that elite male athletes were exempt from the normal rules of dress? That, in fact, the more ridiculous and outré they look, the better?

And why do we assume that “personality,” when it comes to sports, needs to be expressed in bad clothes? That the way to a lucrative sports brand ambassadorship or a clothing line of one’s own comes from wearing garish color combinations, prints and silly accessories?

These are not desultory questions. They are, I would argue, rather natural reactions to what has become one of the more bizarre style rituals of summer: the men’s wear show that is the NBA. draft.

What else to make of Karl-Anthony Towns’s herringbone jacket and black shirt and pants? D’Angelo Russell’s red jacket, checked shirt and bow tie? Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s tux, black bow tie and tartan trousers? The mountain of maroon on Kristaps Porzingis, Kelly Oubre Jr., Bobby Portis and Jahlil Okafor?

These men are being crowned as the next generation of sports royalty, yet at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, they were dressed like refugees from a Broadway show (“Jersey Boys” anyone?). Except, of course, for Cameron Payne, who, with his navy double-breasted jacket, white trousers and gardenia boutonniere, looked like he had dropped in from the yacht club. Given that the Tony Awards have had a well-documented makeover, you have to wonder what they were thinking.

Admittedly, Justise Winslow, who was outfitted by GQ in a well-cut blue suit, looked smooth, but he was the exception, rather than the rule.

It’s the sport equivalent of the naked look, as practiced by celebrities such as Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna.

At the same time, fashion has become a default second-career flirtation for many basketball players, whether Carmelo Anthony (who has his own watch blog), Russell Westbrook (who is about to start an eyewear line) or Amar’e Stoudemire (who is in Paris this week, covering the men’s wear shows on Instagram for Esquire). And presumably, the sooner you establish your interest, the better. Attention-grabbing looks are a way of laying the groundwork; strategic suggestion that a player is thinking about more than just the court.

Yet all this dress-up seems to me to distract from the purpose of the moment, and the real skill being celebrated (and signed). That belongs to the men in the costumes, and it is both subtle and elegant: an ability to understand space and geometry and manipulate a ball in ways that are as complex and exact as the seams in a perfectly made suit.

So shouldn’t they wear the clothes to match? The best suits are the ones that act as a background to the persona inside, and which frame the, well, frame to its ultimate advantage.

I can’t imagine designers wouldn’t be eager to dress the top NBA. prospects in such style. Just because things have developed in a certain way does not mean we should simply shrug and assume they always have to be that way. Or should be that way. Think of what last night might have looked like if Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani had been involved.

Now that really would have been radical.

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 6:03 PM with the headline "NBA ballers masquerade for fashion – or just a charade on draft night."