LeBron James' obsession with his trousers' hems

This week, the NBA playoffs finally begin, the most exciting part of the season, with all the champions ready to impress on the floor. Among them, of course, LeBron James, who will return for his 20th year as a professional after a year's absence, having also become the league's all-time leading scorer. I admit, however, that between the records, Bronny's videos and the more or less veiled promotion of his numerous products on Instagram for years, it's the length of his trousers that catches my eye. In particular, the space between the end of the hem of the trousers and the beginning of the shoe underneath, be it a trainer, a lace-up shoe or the ever-popular loafer. An almost metaphysical space that represents both LeBron's physical strength and his extreme longevity, able to traverse fashion eras with the same mentality he has always displayed on the pitch.

Of course, finding the right size trousers for an NBA player is not easy. His oversized physique, muscular build and legs sculpted by bands of muscle make any size uncomfortable, any cut inappropriate and any model meant for regular men, not athletes who are second to none in the world. For decades, basketball players wore oversized clothes that mirrored and magnified the hip-hop aesthetic, caricaturing it to excess. As time has passed and the baggy style has been abandoned, NBA players, with their now famous tunnel seats and haute couture brands, have become the new benchmark for elegance in the world of sport.

LeBron, on the other hand, has seen his trousers shrink to a palm above the ankle over the last twenty years since the gigantic white suit in which he shook hands with Commissioner David Stern in 2003. And while all of fashion has rediscovered the comfort of loose, oversized fits, the King continues to experiment with trousers that are a good distance from the tongues of his trainers. With his thighs pressed into skinnies - or at least into trousers that turn his thighs into vacuum-packed envelopes - or into tailored tailoring or even tracksuits, there are always those inches of sock separating the end of the leg and the instep.

Here we are a few days ago, before the Lakers' final regular season game in the Staples Centre tunnel, wearing the uniform of the latest collaboration between Carhartt and Awake New York, a pair of Dunk Hi in the same green and white and a pair of herringbone trousers that stay well above the ankle. A few days earlier, during the series of games he missed due to injury, he sat in the front row wearing the brand new Aime Leon Dore motorbike jacket, again a pair of Dunk Hi in the same black and white, and in this case another pair of plain black trousers revealing a less stylish terry sock, as if he was about to step on the court at any moment in case things did not go well.

Now I have taken the last two suits in chronological order from King James' Instagram, but if you scroll more intensely, the idea of LeBron's trousers does not change, quite the opposite. Here he is entering the arena for the classic Christmas game against the Golden State Warriors. You immediately see a pair of Nike LeBron 16 Superman SuperBron's on his feet, giving off such a powerful aura that they come off the hem of his trousers. Or a few months later in a pair of pink chinos with a high-waisted fit. Or again, almost two years later, this time in Nike Dunk Hi Ambush Fuchsias and rolled-up jeans, or as a Bron Wayne version in a double-breasted suit and high hems like a Fiorentina.

What LeBron has never lacked, as he has proven on every NBA floor for twenty years, is consistency. Whether he wears basketball shoes, low-top trainers, leather ankle boots or lace-up shoes, the standard of his trousers always remains the same. So amidst calf elastic, criminal lapels and vertiginous hems, LBJ has always flaunted his ankle until it reaches his shins on the best of days, waging a personal battle against all his younger peers who have since rediscovered more comfortable cuts and fits. After all, fashion fades and style remains, as someone once said, and LeBron has understood how to define eras rather than get carried away by the momentary, to the point of consolidating his sartorial choices as a chasedown block.