Miami Heat NBA Tunnel
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NBA players are known to contain multitudes: actors in insurance commercials, investors in the spirits industry, and, if you’re closer to retirement age, maybe even a dual-sport athlete dabbling in golf. What they haven’t traditionally been known as, though, are fashion icons, at least not until recently.
It’s been widely documented, the NBA tunnel has evolved into a stage for personal style before the performance on the court. It’s the corridor players walk through before changing into their uniforms — a pregame runway where Getty Images inevitably appears, camera in hand, ready to immortalize whatever the players or their stylists decided to pick out that morning. Even Miami Heat guard Norman Powell says, “I like it [the tunnel] a lot. When I was younger, I used to look at Russ’ [Russell Westbrook] and [LeBron] James and think, ‘What’re y’all doing? We’re here to play basketball.’” Over time, that player-to-tunnel relationship has shifted. “As I’ve gotten more into it, I used to have Serge Ibaka as a teammate, and he used to say it’s not fashion, it’s art,” Powell explains.
He continues, “From watching him and seeing how seriously he took it every time we went into games, whether it was a suit or whether he would dress to that city, [style] really shows a deeper look into who you are and shows a different side of who you are other than basketball.”
Beyond that sentiment, max contracts are in play, stylists are at the ready, and years of visual language have been laid down by predecessors like Allen Iverson, Dennis Rodman, and Michael Jordan. From that lineage, a handful of fashion-forward athletic standouts have emerged. But even more telling, though, are the teams that consistently show up well-dressed, leaving the Miami Heat sitting firmly at the top of that list.
It’s easy to fall into lazy stereotypes: that everyone in Miami dresses the same — all Vice-coded club-wear masquerading as everyday attire — or that athletes “can’t dress” at all. When this sentiment was floated to Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., he was genuinely baffled. “Who says that?” he asked, to which the honest answer is: pretty much everyone on Twitter.
But with a roster that includes Norman Powell’s tailored suiting, Tyler Herro’s sneaker collection, Bam Adebayo’s comfort-first approach, and Jaquez Jr.’s use of color, it’s hard to argue against Miami being one of the best-dressed teams in the league.
Dressing well for any old home game can start to feel monotonous, especially when your priorities are focused on the game that follows. But on one particular night in December, the Miami roster had a reason to fit up: Art Basel Week. With parties, gallery openings, and brand activations afoot, Forbes caught up with the Heat’s most stylish leading men there, talking fashion between fits and tip-off.
Jaime Jacquez Jr
“It’s Art Basel,” Jaquez Jr. says, glancing down at his outfit. The look, head to toe Bottega Veneta: a short-sleeved raw denim button-down layered over a compact white ribbed tank, wide-leg indigo-washed jeans, and Abyss Orbit sneakers. His personal style, which he describes simply as “chill,” often leans on button-up shirts as a reliable uniform. It might read as falling into Miami’s relaxed dress code, but Jaquez keeps things grounded and accessible, name-checking Urban Outfitters as a go-to. “They have good tees,” he says.
For Jaquez Jr., dressing well isn’t a recent hobby, it’s something he’s been doing since he was pre-pubescent, middle school, to be exact He traces the habit back to his youth basketball days, when a middle school coach required the team to dress nicely on game days. “I kinda took it a step further,” he remembers. “We all enjoyed dressing up, and we started wearing ties to school on game days.” Surrounded by classmates in hoodies and sweatshirts, he stood out—and liked it.
Now, Jaquez Jr. sees getting dressed as part of the job, not unlike preparing for the game itself. More than anything, though, it sets the tone. Looking good, he says, simply makes him feel good before stepping on the court.
Norman Powell
Often seen in a Tom Ford or Stefano Ricci suit, Powell is led by a Paris-based stylist he met during Fashion Week. Looking back, he doesn’t frame his fashion journey as a series of missteps, but rather as a natural evolution. Early on, his wardrobe leaned heavily toward sweats and athleisure. “I’m from Southeast San Diego, and it’s really chill and relaxed down there,” he says. “So it was a lot of sweats, jeans, a bomber, or I’d throw on Vans.”
As his career has grown, so has his relationship to personal style. “I really wanted to dive deeper into my look and my approach, especially coming in and out of games and the tunnel, and be taken more seriously,” Powell explains. The result is a more sophisticated, business-casual sensibility that signals intention without sacrificing comfort. Even now, he holds onto the ease of his roots, favoring relaxed silhouettes and steering clear of anything too tight, keeping casualness firmly embedded in his fashion repertoire.
Bam Adebayo
Some players match their shoes to their outfit, or default to their team’s colors before games. Adebayo takes it a step further and matches his phone case to his outfit, too—and when asked about it, he bashfully denies the allegation. But that’s exactly the kind of dresser he is. More intricate and intentional with his choices, Adebayo color-matches to the occasion, stepping out in a monochrome look wearing Japanese label Seveskig in a distressed, striped long-sleeve polo, B1 Archival khakis, and Air Jordan SEs.
Controversial as it may be, Adebayo is quietly joining Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the no-outfit repeating club, though “not that far,” as he quickly clarifies. While he avoids repeating full looks, he does rewear pieces, constantly remixing them into something new. “When I first got in the NBA, it was sweatsuits and suits. I didn’t have a middle ground,” he says. His rookie-era outfits, which he jokes should be “deleted off the internet,” still haunt him when he reflects on his style evolution. Now, he’s proud of the range he’s built: “I’ve developed to where I can do cozy fits, or I can put a suit on and dress like this.”