<br>Ranveer first shows a Shaquille O’Neal jersey from his time with the Orlando Magic. It features the iconic blue Magic pinstripe jersey in which the franchise made their first NBA finals appearance in 1995, beating the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls en-route to the finals.
Speaking of the Bulls, Ranveer showed off two jerseys from the iconic ’90s for the team. The first was Dennis Rodman’s #91 jersey, a player that Ranveer called a fashion icon and one of the greatest defensive players of all time. He followed that up with a rare Michael Jordan #45 jersey. MJ wore #45 only in the 1995 season before switching back to his iconic #23 the next year. MJ’s jersey was a birthday gift someone gave Ranveer and stands out for its rarity.
Singh then showed off a LeBron James #23 jersey from the Cleveland Cavaliers. The jersey is from the iconic 2015-16 season where LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals to topple the team with the greatest regular-season record of all time, the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. LeBron was drafted by his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 but left the team in 2010 for the Miami Heat. He re-joined the squad in 2015, and Ranveer described it as ‘the prodigal son returning’.
He then showed off a Vince Carter jersey from his time with the Toronto Raptors. It’s an iconic jersey that features the old Raptors logo with a dinosaur on it. Ranveer called Carter the ‘King of the Dunk’ because of his electrifying playstyle that gave him the nickname of ‘Vinsanity’.
The final two jerseys were a custom Golden State Warriors jersey gifted to him, followed up with an iconic #24 jersey of LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Ranveer claimed that no jersey collection is complete without ‘Mamba Mentality’.
Talking about how he got into the jersey collection, Ranveer had this to say, “I remember two particular jerseys which were my first pieces. One was a reversible San Antonio Spurs training jersey, and the other was a Team USA #8 Scottie Pippen jersey. Those jerseys are extremely dear to me as they were the first two that I had gotten. They became the highlight of my entire wardrobe and I felt so cool when I wore them.”
Ranveer also spoke about the link between fashion and NBA basketball. “Fashion and the NBA are inextricably linked together. The players express themselves in terms of their fashion. It’s something when they enter the arena from the tunnel. I appreciate what Kyle Kuzma, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, do with their style. Fashion is one of my keen interests, so, the tunnel walk is something I look forward to.”
(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
–IANS<br> tb/<br>
