Q: When a basketball player is injured and they’re sitting on the sidelines, why is it necessary to always be wearing a suit and tie?
—Andy Sims, Douglasville
A: The NBA's dress code, which was enacted in 2005, requires players who are injured, or who will not play in a game, to dress in business casual attire while on the bench.
NBA players also are expected to wear business casual attire in public settings, such as arriving and leaving games, during interviews or attending team and league activities.
“There’s the uniform you wear on the court, there’s the uniform you wear when you are on business, there’s the uniform you might wear on your casual downtime with your friends and there’s the uniform you might wear when you go back home,” then-NBA Commissioner David Stern told ESPN.com in 2005. “We’re just changing the definition of the uniform that you wear when you are on NBA business.”
Star guard Allen Iverson, who has since retired, and other players initially objected to the rule, but younger players and those who have since come into the league embrace it.
This year’s NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden coincided with New York Fashion Week, which allowed NBA players in suits and designer clothes to attend a “multitude of fashion events and parties around the city,” the New York Times wrote.
Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was asked to leave the team bench during a game in 2013 because he was wearing black jeans, a sweater and a blazer. He returned wearing a striped shirt and a borrowed blue blazer.
The sweater was at issue, ESPN.com wrote.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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