D’Angelo Russell is having a rough season after the Warriors team he joined succumbed to several injuries. These injuries turned a team who had come off one of the greatest stretches in the history of basketball into one of the league’s cellar-dwellers. However, Russell has one area that he can hang his fashionable hat on when it comes to his comparison with several of the league’s best players. 

Recently, GQ figured out who the best-dressed player in the NBA was, and they arrived at Russell as the best. 

Who’d he beat? 

If the average NBA fan had to think about the most fashionable player in the league, they’d probably think about LeBron James or Russell Westbrook or the recently retired Dwyane Wade. After all, their pregame fashion is constantly dissected on television broadcasts, social media, and inside GQ itself. While they might be bigger names in the NBA than the up-and-coming D’Angelo Russell, they might not have the eclectic closet of the point guard.

Several of the players he was pitted against have their own styles. James has his suits, sweaters, and accessories. Westbrook has the weird factor that shows up mixed with throwback fashions from the ’70s and ’80s.

Others, like Kyrie Irving, have a more casual sense of fashion that is meticulously planned to look good on the camera. Harden likes bright colors or plain white suits, depending on how he feels. 

Another dark horse, like Kelly Oubre Jr., has another eclectic sense of style like Russell filled with loud colors and unique combinations, but standing as a mixture of all of these fashionable senses is Russell. 

D’Angelo Russell’s fashion

If you ask Russell about his fashion, he believes that it is a great representation of the way he plays the game (and vice versa). Russell is known for a controlled, yet wild playstyle that could have him go off at any moment either from the three-point or inside the key. He’s a throwback to the Iverson types who turned basketball into a spectacle similar to the arts, so it makes sense that he does the same with his fashion. 

Russell might show up in one game in a denim jacket and sweatpants with a plain white shirt, or he might show up at another in a printed t-shirt and skinny jeans. Yankees jerseys, beanies, backpacks, and bags, nothing is off-limits when it comes to Russell’s fashion. He might mix and mash the casual with the formal, or he might come in wearing something unlike the NBA has ever seen. 

D’Angelo Russell on his fashion

Upon winning the award of the most fashionable player in the NBA, Russell spoke to GQ about the honor and how his fashion carries over to his game. When asked about his fashion sense, he said that it is not calculated, but made up on the spot. 

“I wing my style, “Russell said. “I think it’s definitely something on how you feel, the weather, that plays a part. But I just put pieces together and if people from the outside looking in don’t like it, I don’t really keep up with that, I just kind of go with it. And then sometimes I try to clean up, I mix up the classier look and then I’ll go back with a throwback look. You never know. I just try to keep it unpredictable. Be able to touch every lane with it.”

The NBA’s crossover into the fashion world is always changing. Players like Russell have grown up watching players like LeBron James come to games in fashionable garbs that redefined the walk from the bus to the locker room. 

Russell acknowledged this shift from the older generation and the younger generation as he spoke on the league’s clothing. 

“I remember in the league you used to have to wear suits and big shirts and big shorts, when like oversized pants were in style,” Russell said. “So for it to just completely change with the new generation, I think that’s just kind of something we were born into and we know what we like versus something that’s trending.”

The Jameses and Wades of the NBA helped usher in the era we have today. They saw the rise of the formal dress code and bent the rules into their styles and aesthetics. Now, players like Russell are doing the same for the next generation of NBA athletes.