WASHINGTON -
The way they fly around the basketball court, LeBron James and Kevin Durant often resemble Superman. Then they return to the locker room and come out looking like Clark Kent.
James, Durant and many other superstars in the NBA playoffs have found a novel way to accessorize their bespoke suits: thick-rimmed, chunky, ostentatious eyeglasses.
In the NBA, the new cool is geek chic. For most, the eyewear is purely a fashion statement, never mind old stigmas about astigmatism. Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook admits that his lenses are nonprescription. Like Westbrook, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has gone so far as to wear glasses without glass in them (or even plastic) as fashion models are sometimes known to do. And yet impeccable vision hasn't stopped Thunder and Heat players from flaunting the latest in designer eyewear at the NBA Finals.
"Back in the day, you wore them because you had to," said James Spina, the editor of 20/20, an eyewear trade publication. "These days, you wear them because you can't wait to wear them."
Nobody has been nattier this postseason than Westbrook, who has become nearly as famous for what Thunder guard Royal Ivey's mother, Jennifer, refers to as Westbrook's "Poindexter look" as for his ability to score at the rim. In the past month alone, Westbrook has been spotted wearing on his face designers like Barton Perreira, Mykita and Thom Browne.
His teammates say Westbrook first showed off his most famous pair -- the fire-engine red, lensless Retrosuperfuture frames that resemble Ray-Ban's iconic Wayfarers -- on a bus trip during the regular season. "You couldn't really tell that they didn't have lenses until you got up real close," center Nazr Mohammed said. Something else came to mind for Thunder assistant coach Rex Kalamian: "My first thought was 'Urkel,'" he said, referring to the uber-nerd from the 1990s sitcom "Family Matters."
Westbrook's look has also fueled a fashion feud this week with members of the Heat. Miami guard James Jones, who said he has a pair of Shuron Ronsirs similar to the ones Malcolm X once wore, dismissed Westbrook's look as "quirky." And that was before he really cut deep.
"I don't condone glasses without lenses," Jones said.
Then there is the small matter of who started the latest style. Westbrook said he was the only bespectacled NBA player as a rookie in 2008. "Everybody else just started wearing them now," he said.
LeBron James quickly disputed that version of events. "He absolutely didn't start it," he said. James wasn't certain who did. But he insisted that it definitely wasn't Westbrook.
Read more: The Wall Street Journal
Russell Westbrook
