D’Angelo Russell On How He Became The NBA’s Most Stylish Player

There’s ice in his veins, a new title to his name, and swag seemingly all around him. For D’Angelo Russell, Brooklyn Nets restricted free agent and the winner of GQ’s NBA Style Showdown competition, the secret to his success is not taking it all too seriously, letting it all come to him. His most grail-level items—like a pair of A Bathing Ape shorts—may go from just lying around to super-fashionable midnight workout gear. A picture of a random tennis player on his Instagram Explore page might spark the inspiration for his next look. His dogs, even, wear Supreme-branded collars. Like his on-court play, Russell describes his style as “unpredictable,” equal parts flashy and conservative. One minute he’s crossing a defender over and making a shot so high-arcing it would beat one of those inflatable tube dancers, the next he’s hitting his man on the break with a crispy bounce pass. His style is the same way: one day it’s the lunch pail equivalent of get-to-work sweatsuits then head-to-toe Human Made the next. It’s been a breakthrough year for Russell both on and off the court. He took the Nets to the playoffs, made the All-Star team in the process, and after being left out of last year’s GQ NBA Style Showdown, he cruised through this year’s competition. Russell methodically picked off heavy hitters like James Harden and Kelly Oubre, Jr. en route to dethroning the King and last year’s winner, LeBron James. So we called him up to ask him how he’s feeling about it. Read more at GQ.