NBA players are hands down the best-dressed professional athletes. The NFL tries, but to no avail. Baseball, soccer, and hockey rarely have any off-duty style even documented. Because of this, style has become as much of a competition between NBA players as the games themselves. And for the start of the 2017-18 season this week, Draymond Green upped the ante by taking his penchant for fashion onto the court with a pair of Virgil Abloh's Nike Hyperdunks.
Sure, Hyperdunks are basketball shoes. But Abloh's highly coveted "The Ten" series of collaborative Nike sneakers are more than just shoes—they're a statement. We're pretty accustomed to these guys going full-force fashion while traveling, or heading into the locker room (especially for Golden State, the Cavs, and Russell Westbrook). But it's another thing to see fashion infiltrating the court, which is happening more and more lately. It's worth noting that Green switched out his shoes mid-game. Maybe fashion wasn't meant to functional?
Green wasn't the only player making a statement, either. LeBron wore a black pair of his new signature 15s with "Equality" stitched in gold across the back of the shoes—a not-so-subtle statement on the tumultuous relationship between politics and professional athletics right now. As for the rest of the season? We'll be on the lookout for more statement-making sneakers—and we're guessing we'll be seeing them sooner rather than later.
