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Fashion Forwards: 'Shorts Suit' Trend Adds Fuel to NBA Rivalry

Things are getting heated on the court between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. Tension is at a boiling point, with the two teams facing off in the NBA finals for the fourth consecutive year.

But sports talk aside, when the Cavs forward LeBron James walked into the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA on Thursday for Game One, he was wearing a $46,000-plus outfit, which specifically included a gray Thom Browne men’s shorts suit.

The look ignited sports and fashion followers on social media, receiving mixed reviews. But the response that stood out the most was from Warriors forward Draymond Green. Green, who received a technical foul during Game One for smacking James in the face before making a shot, had a more metaphorical smack for James off-court, claiming on Sunday that he wore the outfit first.

“I started that trend a long time ago,” Green told the media. Looking back, Green did wear the men’s shorts suit during last year’s NBA Awards show.

Green didn’t stop there. On Sunday, he showed up for Game Two wearing suit shorts and carrying his young son.

A shorts suit is similar to other suits except instead of pants, it includes tailored shorts made with the same material as the jacket. The style was made famous by American designer Thom Browne, who according to the San Francisco Chronicle admires “shorter, shrunken cuts on his suiting.”

Neither James nor Green can claim to have started the shorts suit trend, however. Singer Pharrell Williams has been rocking the look for years, and was even featured in a 2017 Esquire article for his role in “making suits exciting again.”