The NBA might be about the sport of basketball, but its impact is much larger. The athletes who are a part of the NBA also have a lot of cultural power over their fans, as they determine trends in pop culture from the music they listen to to the clothes they wear. Everything a prominent NBA player does publicly today has a massive ripple effect across their fanbases.
However, this wasn’t as much of an issue as pre-social media. The NBA has seen many distinct style eras pass by. Everyone credits Allen Iverson for making the league more fashion-conscious, as the NBA instituted a clothing policy for gameday. We have seen plenty of bizarre pre-game fits today, but there was a point when the clothes were worse.
During the last 2000s and early 2010s, many NBA players would wear plain formal clothing like shirts with ties, vests, glasses, etc. For many of us, it is what we wear to work every day, but knowing how fashion works in the NBA today, these outfits from the biggest names in the sport look absolutely shocking. Naturally, people on Twitter chimed in with their opinions as well.
The Clark Kent era had the NBA in a chokehold pic.twitter.com/1rym6a7zQN
— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) April 30, 2022
https://twitter.com/taliahwh/status/1520459536536158209
And now they both getting eliminated in the first round. Life comes at you fast.
— Jesse (@Jes1dp) April 30, 2022
https://twitter.com/DetectiveDick3/status/1520479874053419008
Jason Bateman / Michael Cera fit
— Prez (@preztaughtyou) May 1, 2022
Most of us dressed like this in the early 2010s lmaooo
— Prep 🌒 (@PrepTheftAuto) April 30, 2022
https://twitter.com/nickynaptime/status/1520830380118523905
So funny when everyone HAD to wear fake glasses
— John Host (@JoanReno) April 30, 2022
https://twitter.com/hokagebando/status/1520858507158999042
Fashion in the NBA is not even remotely the same anymore. Everyone is trying to carve out their own unique styles, or they’re just dressing up casually in the best clothes they own. Players like Russell Westbrook, Myles Turners, and Kyle Kuzma are known for their outlandish pre-game outfits. On the other hand, we have players like Kevin Durant who are seen in just hoodies and shorts/pants.
These eras of trends in the NBA are quite fun to look back, as they basically become a time capsule of that time. NBA players then didn’t have the social commitment of modern stars now, as social media has brought everyone much closer together and monetized most things in the lives of NBA players.
