The Most Outrageous NBA Pregame Outfits

By: Bailey Massey

Edited By: Kylie Augis

When we think about crazy NBA outfits, Dennis Rodman is probably the first athlete that comes to mind. While he had some utterly insane fashion choices in his day, there is an overwhelming amount of players today that are pushing the limits on fashion when it comes to pregame outfits. And, in my opinion, they’re missing the mark big time.

SETTING THE TREND

Dennis Rodman is one of the most notable and earliest examples of wild fashion choices in the NBA. He undoubtedly has inspired many newcomers to the NBA to wear whatever they please, regardless of how crazy or unhinged of an outfit it might be. Truthfully, a lot of his outfits are comical. I can’t help but wonder what his thought process was when putting together some of these. Have a look below:

SHOWING UP AND SHOWING OUT

Nowadays, it seems as though there’s more abnormal than normal outfits worn by NBA players before their games. You can’t help but look at them and think that they look like they escaped out of a cartoon or something. James Harden (76ers) pairs his funky trademark beard with a funky outfit more often than not to games. Here are some of his strangest outfits:

NO STYLIST…LITERALLY

When you take the time to do research on the worst dressed athletes of the NBA, Russell Westbrook comes up quite a bit. His outfits give you that same kind of vibe as when you see a little kid dress themselves for school. It was hard to pick only a handful of his outfits for this article to showcase, because frankly nearly all of them are strange. Here’s the funniest ones I found:

ONE HIT WONDERS

Although there are several players who repeatedly dress in outrageous attire, every once in a while, a newcomer will slip up and wear something over-the-top.

I refer to these guys as ‘one hit wonders’ because they aren’t in the news multiple times for their horrible fashion taste. Here are some honorable mentions below:

WHEN IS LENIENT TOO LENIENT?

I just wrote an article last week on why the NHL should get rid of wearing suits to their games (linked here if you want to read). I feel that that is a perfect example of an organization being a little too strict with dress code. On the other hand, here you have the NBA where players are dressing like fictional characters. These two organizations are completely opposite from one another in this aspect. I feel that the NBA is way too lenient with player dress codes. Although I must tip my hat to these bold outfit choices and the abundance of confidence it must have taken to wear them in public, I can’t help but be curious as to why the trend of dressing strangely has overtaken the league. You rarely see players in any other organization dressing like this. It’s a bit baffling in my opinion. But, in the end, the outfits are pretty comical and I don’t foresee an end to them anytime soon. I think Harden might just shave off his beard before he wears a normal outfit.