“Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Steve Nash Fought Dress Code”: Gilbert Arenas Reveals the Surprise Stars Who Stood Up to David Stern
You must know Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Steve Nash as probably the most grounded guys in the NBA who played their games collected their MVPs and went about their business like they were ordinary men.
Not anywhere close to the character Allen Iverson was. Right? Remember when David Stern brought in the dress code in the league when almost the entire NBA was following Al’s way of expressing themselves through their clothes and hairstyles?
It was the start of the 2005-06 season, NBA became the first major sport to bring in a uniform that stopped players from wearing baggy clothes and instead made them wear business casual.
‘Malice in the Palace’ in 2004 and the way players dressed up in the 2004 Olympics might have been the major contributor to Stern’s and a few Head Coach’s fear of the league becoming more hip-hop than a top-basketball league.
Anyhow, the players got mad about it, and guess who stood up to it?
“Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Steve Nash were the biggest fighters against dress code”: Gilbert Arenas
Although there were a lot of players who were openly criticizing David Stern’s decision to bring in the dress code with Al and Paul Pierce leading the way, as soon as Stern came and gave his statement everyone started confining to what they got.
“If they are really going to have a problem, they will have to make a decision about how they want to spend their adult life in terms of playing in the NBA or not,” Stern said.
It might be very surprising for the fans to know or even go back in time to remember that there were three notable players in the league, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Steve Nash who stayed strong in their stance and didn’t give up until Stern’s retirement in 2014.
Gilbert Arenas talked about it recently on VladTV.
We have fact-checked the 3x All-Star, and everything he said is true. Let’s hear what Timmy D had to say about the change at the time.
“I think it’s basically ret*rded”: Duncan on dress code
Duncan was already a 2x MVP, 3x Finals MVP, and a 3x NBA Champion by 2005, and easily had another 10 years in him to play at a good level. And so, he thought he could say some things and be heard.
“I think it’s a load of crap. I understand what they’re trying to do with hats and ‘durags and jerseys and stuff. That’s fine. But I don’t understand why they would take it to this level. I think it’s basically ret*rded…I don’t like the direction they’re going, but who am I?” Ducan said in anger.
While Nash was the 2005 MVP and Dirk was putting the league on notice. All three of them in their prime or ascending towards it, made Stern give them leeway.
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