Tweaking their on the court dress code, the NBA will now reportedly allow players to wear whatever color shoe they want during games this season. This means that players now have carte blanche to wear whatever colored sneakers their heart desires, which is pretty astounding considering how strict the league used to be.
Yet despite this new sense of footwear freedom, don’t expect all of the players to embrace the color revolution. At least that’s the case for Blazers swingman Evan Turner, who wants to continue making sure his sneakers match his uniform.
“I like to match to tell you the truth,” Turner said at Portland’s Media Day on Monday. “I’m into a lot of different stuff and every now and then maybe I will try out different shoes. But I actually like to have my stuff match. The new school kids, I’m sure (rookie) Gary Trent Jr. and all of them will take advantage of it. The youngins will take advantage of it. But I like to wear red, black or white.”
The satchel wearing Turner may be one of the more stylish players on Portland’s roster, so his preference to not try anything new on the court from a sneaker standpoint is a bit surprising. However, Trail Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard essentially agrees with Turner.
“I get a little uncomfortable when the colors are a little too far off from matching my uniform,” Lillard said. “At least, it looks funny to me.”
But even though Lillard may be uncomfortable, he knows that since the fifth iteration of his signature sneaker with adidas will be releasing this season, it’s a sound business move to wear as many colors as he can.
“Also in marketing in them, in the shoe business, you got to do that when the NBA is giving you the opportunity to,” Lillard said. “I’m pretty sure I will be wearing a lot of different colors.”
