You're not going to find me in something someone else is wearing. Unless, of course, he's a very swaggy individual.
I don't want the attention. I want the respect.
By the time I got to the league I knew the cameras were going to be there and to turn it on.
[ Stylists] are putting you in a style that most people are in because it's the trend. So you might have on the same outfit as everyone else.
When we were growing up we only got two pairs of shoes every year. With me, I was lucky because I got three pairs of shoes, the third were basketball shoes: Black Air Force Ones, White Air Force Ones, and boots for the winter.
I can do whatever I want.
I would have people send me shoes and I had 40 pairs and none would fit in the dorm room. People would come by and be like, "Yo, I've been looking for these shoes." I was like, "I'll sell them to you for $300 right now." I'd sell them, save up $4,000 to $5,000, go to the mall and just buy a bunch of new stuff.
I always wanted to dress up like Darth Maul.So I designed my own kilt.
I like when people do cool stuff that might be a little off-the-wall to anybody else, but they found a way to make it work for that day. I wouldn't recommend that people wear it every day like that, but if you every once in a while just spice it up, I like that. I dare to be different.
I asked Tyson Chandler who has to customize everything because he's 7-foot-1. He's said, always call a designer. You want to wear certain stuff but people don't make it.
I don't want to be predictable at all.
[Tyson Chandler] doesn't listen to people either. He does whatever he feels like and people will be like, "Who dressed you?"
When I started in the league, I went to a tailor and told him I wanted long t-shirts. But they were like, "You know, you don't know what the trend is." I was like, "Look dog, I don't care about trends or your fashion sense. If I'm going to pay you money, this is where the shirt is going to end."
There's a lot of guys in the NBA that would hire stylists because they know they don't have their own sense of style and they need a little guidance.
I always knew what I wanted to dress like but that's when I became really passionate about it. We'd be in class and Google outfits or I'd doodle what I wanted.
Maybe somewhere down the line when I'm done playing, I'd want to style NBA players.
I designed it, the tailors wanted the kilt as a high joint but I wanted mine low like a Jedi.
That's kind of the mystique If you [post your outfit] on Instagram all of the time, I'm going to see a bunch of people walking around looking like Shump.
Tyson [Chandler] encouraged me and was like, if that's what you want to wear, wear that.
I respect them [Amar Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony or Dwyane Wade], but would I dress like them? No.
I'm super reserved in letting people in my house. A lot of guys don't trust anybody in their homes but they would trust somebody like me because I've been there.
You expect a basketball player to come with a white button-down, Balmain jeans, and Balenciagas. You expect that. But when I come with an extended button-down, camos, no socks, Louboutins that have spikes on them, and a bow tie with diamonds, you'll be like, "What? Who dressed him?"
I have an Instagram [account] but I don't feel a lot of love with it.
A lot of times I just feel like this is not a special day, these are just clothes that I bought.
Me and Bianca [Stewart] would go to thrift stores like the Salvation Army. We'd pick up dope stuff no one ever heard of. But we'd put it together in ways that would work and be different.
