-
Myron Medcalf
A’ja Wilson had an issue.
She was a three-time All-American at South Carolina. A 2017 nationwide champion. The nationwide participant of the 12 months and No. 1 draft choose in 2018. However forward of her WNBA debut, one thing wasn’t fairly proper.
Her legs felt imbalanced each time she ready for video games. The 6-foot-4 ahead at all times appeared to want extra time to get her left leg prepared in comparison with her proper. That is how she got here up with the thought of the single-leg sleeve.
“It got here to life my rookie 12 months when my poor little faculty physique was simply transitioning over to being an expert,” Wilson mentioned forward of her Nike signature line’s launch. “My left leg simply [needed] to be a bit of bit hotter and prepared for motion. However I do not wish to put on the total tight … so I made a decision to chop the opposite leg off.”
The type has captivated the following era of hoopers whereas transcending the ladies’s sport and basketball as an entire. From Shai Gilgeous-Alexander within the 2025 NBA Finals to U.S. ladies’s nationwide soccer workforce ahead Lynn Williams within the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris, the one-leg tight has taken maintain throughout the sports activities world.
“She’s one of many first folks I bear in mind carrying a one-leg sleeve and making it their signature look,” Minnesota Lynx ahead Alanna Smith advised ESPN. “And I feel that is been a giant affect on a number of different sports activities.”
And whereas Wilson did not invent the development — that credit score goes to U.S. observe and discipline celebrity Florence Griffith Joyner within the Nineteen Eighties — Wilson is arguably chargeable for popularizing it amongst immediately’s athletes.
“As soon as I noticed A’ja do it, I did it,” mentioned Chicago Sky middle Kamilla Cardoso, one other former South Carolina star.
Adhel Tac, a rising sophomore at South Carolina, cannot think about enjoying with out the one-leg tight. If it was related to the best participant in her college’s historical past, she figured it may turn out to be part of her id, too.
“I really feel bizarre doing stuff with out it,” Tac mentioned. “And even at observe, there have been some instances the place I’ve practiced with out it and my teammates take a look at me loopy and so they’re like, ‘Oh, what occurred to your leg sleeve? The place did it go?'”
Emulating Wilson’s signature look has had an empowering impact on those that have adopted in her footsteps in Columbia, South Carolina, particularly, the place they’re greeted by her statue each time they stroll into Colonial Life Enviornment.
“I really feel prefer it’s inspiring for youthful children and other people in faculty or highschool that if I’ve a one-leg sleeve, I could play like A’ja and all the pieces,” South Carolina ahead Maryam Dauda mentioned. “You look ahead to enjoying like her in a sure means while you step on the courtroom.”
However the full extent of that affect wasn’t realized till Might, when Nike dropped Wilson’s long-awaited assortment — anchored by the A’One sneaker that reportedly offered out inside minutes of its on-line launch — that includes the A’Symmetric tight. Designing her personal line was the embodiment of the work that has made her a collegiate, WNBA and Olympic champion, however the one-leg sleeve is in the end linked to Wilson’s impression on ladies’s basketball, she advised ESPN.
“I wished to be tremendous intentional with A’One and every bit within the attire line,” Wilson mentioned. “Every bit — from the A’One sneaker to the single-leg legging to the hoodie — is an genuine a part of me and tells a part of my story. I’ve worn single-leg leggings for years, and as soon as I noticed different folks carrying them, I noticed the necessity, so I wished to design one thing that labored, not one thing you needed to minimize your self or hope would not roll up midgame.”
The response has been proof that she is excess of simply an elite basketball participant.
“I wish to go away my mark on this sport,” Wilson mentioned. “Not simply how I play, however how I present up. So, to have an effect not solely on the courtroom however on the tradition and elegance of the game too — that shall be a part of my legacy.”
When former WNBA participant Jannon Lampley checks on her daughter Lola earlier than mattress, she finds the No. 20 recruit of the 2026 class watching highlights.
“Each night time, I might go in her room,” Lampley mentioned. “Her tv was on YouTube watching A’ja Wilson.”
Lengthy earlier than she coached her daughter and Lawrence Central Excessive College to the 2024 Indiana state title, Lampley (née Roland) helped Purdue attain the Last 4 in 1994 and earned All-Large Ten first-team honors in 1997. In accordance with her, Wilson is a mixture of the best gamers she has ever competed in opposition to: She will dribble, go, defend and rating in any respect ranges. That prowess has made her a hero amongst younger basketball gamers — one thing Lampley witnesses at prep tournaments across the nation.
“My youngest son, he performs with the one-leg sleeve,” she mentioned. “That is how far it goes. I see boys do it on a regular basis now.”
However there’s one other layer to Wilson’s one-leg tight. At 6-1, Lampley by no means felt like tall ladies had been considered as sleek and classy when she performed basketball. The one-leg sleeve, she mentioned, and the way in which Wilson wears it, have modified that.
“You normally do not see the tall gamers being assured, and she or he’s embraced her femininity,” Lampley mentioned. “She brings the style facet to it. She exudes confidence, magnificence.”
“You wish to mannequin your sport after A’ja and seem like her, but in addition this present day, we prefer to look good on the courtroom,” Tac added. “Look good, really feel good, play good. And possibly it is our hair, make-up, nails, lashes, regardless of the case could also be. However I really feel like, at the very least for me, as effectively, carrying the leg sleeve, it is simply part of the uniform now.”
In 2025, Wilson already has all of it. She has received each out there ring at each degree. And he or she has a profitable cope with Nike, which just lately signed her to a prolonged extension. If she determined to retire immediately, she can be an computerized Corridor of Famer and a contender for the best of all time title.
However the one-leg sleeve will stay a development lengthy after her profession ends. As a result of it represents A’ja Wilson and makes gamers who put on it really feel like possibly at some point, they are often similar to her.
“My agent despatched me a photograph from a women’ basketball invitational, and all of the younger women on the courtroom had been carrying one-leg sleeves,” Wilson mentioned. “That second hit completely different. It jogged my memory that how I present up issues, and also you by no means know who’s watching or feeling impressed.”