The 2018 NBA Style Showdown: Vote Now for the League's Best-Dressed Player
The NBA Finals are underway, and a champion will soon emerge. But on-the-court action is far from the only thing the league has going for it these days. As LeBron James and his Thom Browne-wearing Cavs will tell you, the NBA is all style, all the time, now—it informs how we think and talk about our favorite players and teams. Of course, that's all because the NBA is home to some of the most stylish players on the planet. So we decided that, as the league crowns a title winner, we'd do a little awarding of our own. That's right: we're determining the most stylish dude in the NBA. Sixteen champions will enter, and one will emerge victorious. Vote here, vote on Twitter, or on our Instagram, and check in as we whittle the field down to a single style legend.
LeBron James vs. Ben Simmons
In basketball circles, it’s popular—if not also slightly blasphemous—to note all the talents that Philadelphia 76ers stud Ben Simmons has in common with LeBron James: size, speed, court vision. But style is another game entirely. And if presumptive Rookie of the Year Simmons, partial to an Instagram-friendly mix of camo, sweats, and trucker jackets, wants to challenge the King—de facto leader of the NBA's best-dressed team and a man who co-designed his brand-new Nike sneaker—well, we wish him the best of luck.
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J. R. Smith vs. Carmelo Anthony
In another life, J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony were teammates on the most exciting Knicks team in recent history. That was way back in 2013, when “NBA style” was just starting to become the riot of color and pattern it is now—and Swish and Melo were ahead of the curve. They’re older now, and wiser, but J.R. is still wearing lots of Thom Browne sweats, and Carmelo is still leading the league in wow-he-really-did-that hats.
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Kevin Love vs. Jordan Clarkson
We’ve got a teammate matchup! But these two Cavs couldn’t better illustrate the two poles of the menswear spectrum. Love is Mr. Banana Republic, as at home in a suit and turtleneck as he is in his warm-ups. And Clarkson might be the only NBA player we could see hooping in Vans Old Skools.
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Nick Young vs. P. J. Tucker
Young’s Golden State Warriors dispatched Tucker’s Houston Rockets, and their style pairing is about as evenly matched as that seven-game series. You know Young as Swaggy P, a man who's as unafraid to anything as he is to shoot a contested 25-footer. Tucker, meanwhile, is James Harden’s pre-game accomplice in swag, rocking double-breasted suits and rare sneaks more often than just about anyone else in the league.
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James Harden vs. Kyle Kuzma
Speaking of Harden—on paper, this pairing might seem like an uneven fight. In this corner, GQ cover star James Harden, fresh off a season almost certain to be deemed MVP-grade. In the contender's corner is Kuzma, a lanky 22-year-old whose Lakers team won 35 games. We know that Harden will bring the noise and the glitter shorts. But Kuzma is a sneaky-good rook, and the same applies to his off-court looks—just check out his fit from our All-Star party.
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Dwyane Wade vs. Draymond Green
Dwyane Wade is the elder statesman of NBA style, a shining example to kids everywhere that if they work hard and understand quality tailoring, they, too, might one day win a title and sit front-row at fashion week. Draymond Green, meanwhile, has never found a situation he can't trash-talk his way out of—this competition included.
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Russell Westbrook vs. Jimmy Butler
Welcome to the most extreme style pairing in this whole bracket. There's Russell Westbrook, the loudest dresser in the NBA since the time of ankle-length fur coats. And he's up against Jimmy Butler, who wears football jerseys—and who somehow makes them look stylish. It’s a matchup of stylistic opposites, and, most importantly, two guys with competitive fire to spare.
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Chris Paul vs. Iman Shumpert
Ever since Chris Paul joined forces with James Harden down in Texas, he’s taken to the local landscape, going to far as to wear Western shirts and ten-gallon hats in the tunnel. Meanwhile, Iman Shumpert, a man who's shown up in cropped tops, grungewear, and Hood by Air, is gonna dress like Iman Shumpert no matter where he goes. Which, for now, is Sacramento. This round, it’s keep-it-classic chameleon vs. what-rules? iconoclast.
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