Although the Washington Wizards fell to the Brooklyn Nets, Kelly Oubre pushed streetwear culture forward, when he donned the Supreme shooting sleeve made in collaboration with Nike.
Every Thursday, the iconic streetwear brand, Supreme, with a cult-like following issues their seasonal clothing and accessories lineup, that sometimes sellout in a matter of minutes. In their December 7 launch, Supreme delivered their big-hitter, the box logo hooded sweatshirt.
However, what surprised people the most was the basketball shooting sleeve, that was made in collaboration with Nike. Thus, a very important question was asked on basketball Twitter on Dec. 5 after Supreme unveiled their Thursday lineup release.
who is going to be the first player to wear the supreme x NBA arm sleeve pic.twitter.com/m3k50cxqtw
— trey (@TreyfromNY) December 6, 2017
The Ringer’s social media assistant Nicole Bae, replied to the tweet and predicted 10 minutes later that Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre would be the first player to wear the flashy accessory.
Well lo and behold, in Tuesday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, the third-year forward donned the arm sleeve on his right leg, which sparked quite a moment of awe from streetwear enthusiast.
Kelly Oubre wore the Supreme sleeve on his leg. That's legendary. (h/t @br_kicks) pic.twitter.com/1ObeChy7YD
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) December 13, 2017
Oubre has had quite the reputation for his eccentric taste in fashion. Earlier in the season, he sported Supreme’s faux fur coat before the Nov. 4 matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which caused a little stir around the league for it’s expletive remark.
The sleeve did not help Washington get past the Nets, (11-15), in their 103-98 loss. But Oubre did have a decent game. He finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Maybe if he wore the sleeve on his arm, his 4-of-10 shooting from the field would have been better.
However, he didn’t finish the game with the sleeve, as he had to change the sleeve at halftime.
"“I didn’t know the league wasn’t going to accept them because they had the NBA logo on them and the Nike logo, so I thought it was going to be verified or whatever. Obviously, they didn’t accept them.”"
Even though the Wizards did not pull out the win, Oubre helped push the culture forward, which may lead to more Nike X Supreme sports apparel collaborations in the future. Nike is in the first year of a 8-year one billion dollar deal, as the official apparel sponsor of the NBA. It also sponsors the NFL.
Maybe down the line, the NBA will accept the Supreme apparel, nonetheless, Oubre once again made his fashion statement.