“For Chris, I do 99.9 percent of his shopping,” says Mays, who now also works with Brooklyn Nets center DeAndre Jordan, and Kevin Love, who plays center and power forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The job, she says, is year-round, entailing lots of travel, strategy, and organization. “I’m pulling clothes throughout the year and getting them ready not only for games, but for their day-to-day lives. I travel to whatever city they’re playing in once a month and put 30 days’ worth of looks together. Then I create a shared photo album with flats of each look and include notes that say, ‘Don’t forget to roll your cuff,’ or ‘Push up your sleeve,’ or ‘Wear this outfit with those glasses.’ ”
It was Mays who orchestrated Paul’s viral HBCU looks last summer. A few years ago, just before the 2018–2019 season, she bought him a Texas Southern University hoodie while shopping at the school for her father, who’s an alum. When Paul wore it with a Stefan Grant outfit, fans and the press reacted with high praise. “After that game we thought, How many of these schools can he wear…and how can we amplify these institutions that ordinarily wouldn’t get this much shine?” Mays says. The outfits were among the most prominent looks worn in the 2020 NBA Bubble in Florida, where, despite limited closet space, rules that barred stylists from visiting, and the absence of the pomp and circ*mstance that usually surrounds NBA games, players still brandished impressive wardrobes.
“Our equipment manager was great,” says P.J. Tucker, who plays for the Houston Rockets. “He knows how crazy I am about my stuff, so he set it up so that my assistant could ship everything to me, especially shoe-wise. I knew the 90 pairs of sneakers I took with me weren’t going to last.” (For context, he owns upwards of 5,000 pairs.) Mays sent Paul to Orlando with 10 duffels filled with pre-styled outfits. When he needed more clothes, she had pieces sent to an off-site location where they were sanitized, then picked up by Paul’s security and delivered to his hotel room. “It was definitely a labor of love,” she says.
Bubble aside, one of the most laborious parts of shopping as an NBA player or player’s stylist is finding clothes that fit. “These guys are not easy to shop for,” says Vick Michel, the L.A.-based stylist who works with Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. “Jayson is six-eight. You can’t just walk into a department store and think everything is going to fit him.” Both Mays and Michel work with a number of brands and tailors to have looks customized for their clients, Mays especially having to do this when styling Jordan, who’s 6 feet 11. “If I see something online or in a store that doesn’t fit me, I’ll show it to her to see if there’s a way we can replicate it or get it in my size,” says Jordan.
