-
Ohm Youngmisuk
CAMERAS LINED THE participant’s entrance to Paycom Area, bursting with flashes as Indiana’s star guard made his anticipated arrival to Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Tyrese Haliburton wore an off-white Carhartt button-down jacket, white pants, black footwear and sun shades. Haliburton’s accent of selection for the most important recreation of his life? His debut signature sneakers, the Puma Hali 1, designed by Salehe Bembury in a hibiscus colorway.
Almost an hour later, the hallway lit up again as the league MVP made his minute-long stride to the locker room. Oklahoma City Thunder famous person Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked in with mild blue-tinted sun shades, carrying a snug grey shirt jacket and his “Masi Blue” SHAI 001 Converses in honor of his youthful brother, Thomasi.
The MVP’s assertion piece? A Chanel cross-body bag, enhanced by a pearl-detailed strap and complemented by one other, smaller cross-body mini bag.
“Shai’s been doing it since he got here to the league,” Haliburton instructed ESPN about his Thunder counterpart. “He’s type of just like the undisputed king of [NBA fashion].”
Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton aren’t simply two star level guards who’ve pushed the Thunder and Pacers to a 2-2 tie within the NBA Finals, they’re additionally two of the league’s most trendy gamers, recognized for his or her distinctive types and designer outfits which might be simply as versatile as their video games.
Whereas each level guards are laser-focused on profitable their first championship, for themselves and their groups, Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton are among the many gamers who’ve introduced a high fashion really feel to this small-market NBA Finals showdown.
Within the metropolis the place Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka used to strut their best suits, Gilgeous-Alexander — together with teammates reminiscent of Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren — has Oklahoma Metropolis again because the NBA’s style capital. And for Haliburton, aware of this second, he’s utilizing this Finals to show doubters fallacious and switch heads along with his clutch recreation and his style model.
“OKC is a legendary tunnel with Russ and what Shai’s doing,” Haliburton instructed ESPN final week on the eve of Recreation 1.
“OKC is unquestionably one among all people’s favourite tunnels.”
WESTBROOK USED TO roam this similar tunnel carrying something and every thing from a COOGI crewneck to Saint Laurent boots.
It appeared as if he would go to any size for style — even when it meant ripping holes into denims and stitching items, typically bought off the rack.
“My mother used to stitch, so I used to look at,” Westbrook instructed ESPN through the 2023-24 season. “So if I rip one thing, if I lower it like I lower my denims, I lower it up myself within the room.
“I can sew it by hand [with a needle]. I ain’t performed it shortly, however I can even [sew] it by machine as properly, too.”
Gilgeous-Alexander — the primary Thunder level guard to steer Oklahoma Metropolis to the Finals since Westbrook’s 2012 staff — carries the present NBA’s unofficial style crown.
“Shai is acknowledged fairly extensively because the reigning king of NBA model,” stated Wall Avenue Journal reporter Sam Schube, previously GQ’s sports activities director. “He is the man who’s actually picked up the mantle from LeBron [James], Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade and Russ. He is the following dude. … Shai’s type of his personal world. It does not actually really feel like he is taking part in the identical recreation as all people else.
“I do not know the way a lot Chanel you are seeing within the NBA tunnel. That simply tells you that that man is aware of precisely what he needs to put on and feels nice about doing it … to take a extremely traditional fancy French woman girls’s put on model and twist it as an NBA participant is like, ‘Ooh yeah.’ You are feeling good about your self.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is within the midst of a legendary season. He is gained the regular-season scoring title, MVP, the Western Convention Finals MVP and is working towards a potential Finals MVP.
Westbrook, who gained league MVP with the Thunder within the 2016-2017 season, is thought to assist outfit his teammates by taking them purchasing, shopping for fits or garments for them and passing on model suggestions. Now with the Denver Nuggets, Westbrook has saved a few of his extra memorable outfits, from previous Met Galas to his wedding ceremony and draft evening fits.
As of late, he wears largely his personal style model, Honor The Present. The 17-year veteran dons a special outfit to each recreation after which offers his garments to both mates, college students at his Westbrook Academy or charity.
“I educate them style, however being inexpensive,” Westbrook stated of his purchasing excursions with teammates. “I am not huge on having younger guys go to [Louis] Vuitton and [Christian] Dior and spending $2,000 on stuff. I am huge on thrift purchasing. That is how I used to be introduced up. My mother was the one which taught and helped me perceive about with the ability to have what you will have but additionally wanting good with what you will have. And that is why I used to be in a position to create my very own model.”
Now, OKC has one other MVP making waves within the style world. At 26, Gilgeous-Alexander walked the runway in Thom Browne’s present at Paris Males’s Vogue Week in 2022. He’s a former GQ Most Stylish Man of the Year and is Converse Basketball’s inventive director.
“The European Vogue Week journey has turn into type of a field to test when you’re a professional athlete,” Schube stated. “But it surely’s exhausting to recollect guys strolling in a Thom Browne present outdoors of Shai. He seems to have actual relationships with a few of these designers and type of research the craft because it have been in a approach that a few of his friends do not.”
It is no surprise it took him about 40 minutes to assemble “eight to 9 outfits” earlier than the Finals in case the championship collection goes the gap with different choices.
“Earlier than each collection, I plan out my outfits for positive,” Gilgeous-Alexander instructed ESPN. “I do not know when you’ve seen, however each spherical I’ve debuted a brand new colorway of my [Converse] shoe. Spherical 1, all of the outfits have been centered across the grey footwear. After which Spherical 2, they have been centered across the black footwear. Spherical 3, the clay footwear. And this spherical could be the blue footwear.”
LIKE WHEN WESTBROOK, Harden and Ibaka turned Oklahoma Metropolis’s pregames right into a modeling runway, Gilgeous-Alexander is not the one fashion-conscious Thunder participant. Williams, Holmgren and Lu Dort, all key performers on the second-youngest staff to succeed in the NBA Finals, have additionally expressed themselves by their pregame style.
Williams is very not shy to trigger a commotion, as soon as carrying an all-black headpiece that lined his whole head with three cushioned rows across his face.
He was fined $25,000 by the NBA for carrying clothes with profane language on it in his second-round Recreation 7 postgame media session.
“I say my model proper now, it is saggy,” Williams instructed ESPN. “But it surely’s additionally simply me, no matter I am feeling. So if I am feeling lazy, I am not afraid to put on pajamas. I am not afraid to be comfy.”
For Recreation 1 of the Finals, Williams, 24, went with a vintage relaxed look with a 90’s really feel, sporting a black and pink zip-up hoodie jacket with a hat, a graphic T-shirt that includes Michael Jackson off the “Harmful” album cowl, saggy denims and a “Pinky and the Mind” soft-sided lunch bag.
“This is sort of a traditional Gen Z cool child outfit,” Schube stated. “Large sneakers, big denims, little shirt after which a trucker hat that appears like possibly you may have gotten it at a gasoline station, however I am positive it prices a thousand {dollars}. And is he carrying a lunch field? This might not be extra of a Gen Z outfit.”
Holmgren, 23, additionally values consolation, calling his model “informal however stylish” whereas additionally carrying no matter he feels assured in. For Recreation 1, he wore a black hoodie, sun shades and pants. He admits he and the MVP are in numerous style leagues.
“It is not a contest as a result of the finances is not the identical,” Holmgren instructed ESPN of Gilgeous-Alexander, who signed a five-year, $172-million extension in 2021. “That is a harmful recreation to attempt to play. So I do not even attempt to play it.
“I have a look at them as style professionals,” Holmgren stated of Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. “And I am extra of a style hobbyist.”
Williams admits he is not on the MVP’s stage, both. Gilgeous-Alexander took Williams purchasing in New York through the ahead’s rookie season in 2022-23. Williams noticed firsthand the style connections Gilgeous-Alexander had as the 2 teammates shopped at designer shops that Williams could not afford again then. Williams largely watched Gilgeous-Alexander store that day.
“The primary time, it wasn’t that enjoyable,” Williams stated of that purchasing expertise with Gilgeous-Alexander.
“I simply have extra money now so I can type of sustain.”
Williams stated it by no means will get aggressive between Thunder teammates with regards to who has the most effective outfits. The way in which the MVP sees it, he is shelling out style assists to his teammates.
“It does not actually get aggressive,” Gilgeous-Alexander instructed ESPN as politely as he might when requested if there are any style battles. “I do not wish to sound like … they’re like, these are my youngsters when it comes to style. I confirmed them what to do and what to not do.”
It is why Oklahoma Metropolis is as soon as once more the style epicenter of the NBA.
“You don’t consider Oklahoma Metropolis as probably the most trendy place on Earth,” Schube stated. “And but there’s one thing within the water there. They seem to be a small market. [GM] Sam Presti, who constructed each of these groups, is clearly a man who is aware of the best way to be inventive and versatile with regards to constructing a roster. And which means discovering younger gamers and empowering them.
“And so that you get these younger dudes who’re simply completely dripping and it occurs to be in Oklahoma Metropolis.”
BEFORE GAME 6 of the Japanese Convention finals, Haliburton walked into Gainbridge Fieldhouse wanting like he was dressed for a funeral. Because the Pacers have been poised to shut out the New York Knicks, Haliburton arrived in a pointy all-black outfit with sun shades whereas carrying a black duffle bag.
Ben Stiller, actor and die-hard Knicks fan, reposted a video of Haliburton’s stroll with some trash discuss.
“Good factor he introduced his duffel for the flight to NY,” Stiller wrote on X, hoping the Knicks would drive a Recreation 7.
Haliburton eradicated the Knicks with 21 factors and 13 assists within the 125-108 Pacers’ win, and the purpose guard gave Stiller — who spoofed male supermodels in his comedy “Zoolander” — an ideal response.
“Nah, was to pack y’all up,” Haliburton wrote back on X.
The Pacers level guard is a large wrestling fan and lives to return off the highest rope along with his style ensembles. He is cognizant of how some area tunnels are extra high-profile than others, like Madison Sq. Backyard’s ramp. As Schube factors out, Haliburton appears to be “conscious of how that is all going to play on social media” and “of the narrative and theatrics of all of it.”
“Good model,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated of Haliburton. “Above all, he wears it. He embraces his model and does not care what anybody else thinks. He simply wears it. And that is all you’ll be able to actually do is, ‘I will go in my closet and have my eight outfits that I believe are fireplace’… all you are able to do is belief your really feel and put on it with confidence.”
Haliburton, 25, is used to listening to the nice and the dangerous on social media about his model decisions. Whether or not it is going for a “Peaky Blinders” look or carrying a Prada trench coat that drew comparisons to Inspector Gadget on-line, Haliburton will stir it up.
“He does not have one lane he simply sticks to,” stated Pacers teammate Myles Turner, who is also into style with a self-described “preppy Western” look. “No matter he feels, he will throw it on and it is a dialog starter piece for positive.
“He is daring, however so is his persona.”
On the 2024 All-Star Recreation, Haliburton wore an extended double-breasted Prada runway jacket that had shaggy blue fur round each of his biceps and his knees. Some on-line likened the blue fur to the Cookie Monster.
“I believe individuals simply all the time combat issues that they have not seen earlier than or all people simply needs to slot in,” Haliburton instructed ESPN. “This can be a world the place when you strive one thing totally different, all people’s going to say one thing about it. I do not gown like anyone else and I am OK with that.
“I believe there’s lots of people which might be really within the style world that might let you know that I gown very properly and I consider I do. However for some individuals who actually do not know something about style, it might be like he attire horrible. I simply do what I wish to do on the finish of the day. I am not right here to please anyone.”
Haliburton chooses a sensible strategy along with his outfits. Whereas he likes to face out in Comme des Garcons, Prada and The Row, Haliburton retains a number of items in rotation. He stated he can put on 10 to fifteen of the identical pairs of footwear and rewear pants or a black button-up a number of instances as layering items.
“I imply, we obtained cash, however garments are costly, bro,” stated Haliburton, who tries to remain grounded even after signing a five-year extension value as much as $260 million in 2023. “That is why I strive to not get too many tremendous loud items that you may see I wore once more.”
In relation to these flashy items, Haliburton will typically promote them on Grailed, a web based resale market, with an nameless account or give them to Olivier Rogers, his style stylist, to promote on websites like The RealReal.
“I’ve secret accounts on websites the place you’ll be able to resell garments,” Haliburton stated. “Even when I do not get all the cash again … say if I purchased a jacket for 5 grand and I get three grand again, that is higher than getting nothing and it is sitting in my closet.
“Once I first got here to [the NBA], it bothered me a lot. I’d spend all this cash on a colourful pair of denims and a classic T-shirt. And as soon as I put on it as soon as and submit it on my Instagram, I can not put on it once more.”
As Haliburton appears to be like to stun the Thunder once more in Monday’s Recreation 5 like he did in Recreation 1 along with his game-winning shot, the Indiana star returns to the Paycom Heart hoping to recreate the magic of that evening, which began with honoring the requirements of bringing warmth to the OKC hallway.
One factor probably not on the market are the Hali 1’s he wore in Recreation 1. After he hit some of the clutch pictures in Finals historical past to finish the Pacers’ comeback win, Haliburton positioned his signature Pumas next to the microphone for his postgame information convention.
“The key sauce at present was these,” Haliburton stated as he pointed to his footwear after serving to erase a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Later, he would submit on X the proper mic drop — repeating some of the iconic strains in NBA style historical past and an homage to Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon.
“It is gotta be the shooooeeesss,” Haliburton wrote.