LOS ANGELES — Jeff Hamilton has become a household name for his luxurious leather jackets. He has been a part of sports history by crafting several iconic pieces, including the jacket that Kobe Bryant wore in the locker room after winning the 2001 NBA Finals. In his booth at the 10th anniversary of ComplexCon on Saturday, Oct. 3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the designer displayed a sparkly jacket paying tribute to that moment.

Hamilton discussed how being a part of the inaugural ComplexCon in 2016 helped boost his confidence after a stint away from his work.

"When I came to the first ComplexCon in Long Beach and first and second and third, I really got really inspired," he reflected in a conversation with USA TODAY Sports while wearing a colorful jacket from his collaboration with Supreme. "It had a lot to do with me to come back out of retirement. Because I really, that's the first time that I saw where you're in direct contact with the actual culture makers and the shape makers and the public and that resonated.

"And when I walked through the aisles, people knew who I was and it was very flattering. Not from an ego standpoint, to know that I had over the years created some kind of impact that whatever I did for me, because I was passionate, not from a business standpoint, resonated with the ultimate fan."

Hamilton also shared some insight into the current state of athlete fashion, pointing out LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jordan Clarkson as sartorial leaders.

"All the guys dress very well," he said. "… At this stage, they have stylists and they have great taste, but also they have unlimited budgets."

While he declined to pick a favorite fashionable athlete, Hamilton's choice for favorite designer was easy.

"My GOAT is Ralph Lauren," he said. "That I can answer unequivocally because those are the things that I still look up to that I admire that he's able to have for a lifetime."

Hamilton currently has partnerships with Formula 1, Jordan Brand, Yohji Yamamoto and more. He is continuing his own winning legacy and designed the jacket that Karl-Anthony Towns wore in the New York Knicks championship parade. He said he is styling two players for the NBA's opening night, Jaylon Brown and Towns' teammate Miles McBride, and he also has a jacket for Knicks president Leon Rose in the works.

"We have a lot of dishes to be served pretty soon," he promised.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Designer behind Kobe Bryant's iconic title jacket still shapes NBA fashion

In the shadows of their crosstown rival Knicks, the Nets are looking to improve on their 20-win season last year.

One of the main pieces in their rebuild is 2025 No. 8 overall pick Egor Dëmin, who showed promising flashes during his rookie year and even more signs of growth during the Summer League.

Dëmin picked up where he left off in Las Vegas on Tuesday night during Brooklyn's first preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets (124-90 win), scoring six points (2-for-3 from three) with five assists in a limited 18 minutes of action. After the win, Dëmin expressed confidence in his development and believes he's ready to take the next step in his career.

"Yeah, my goal is to translate not just a part of what I did in Summer League, but even more, right?" Dëmin told the New York Post's Brian Lewis. "Obviously I had some more time after Summer League, and I kept working on that stuff. And I think I’m even better right now than I was in Summer League."

The BYU product averaged 21.0 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in three Summer League games and 23.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in the California Classic (two games). By comparison, Dëmin averaged just 10.3 points across 52 games during his rookie season.

Head coach Jordi Fernández said he liked what he saw from the 20-year-old on Tuesday night, noting his improved strength and comfortability on the court.

"Yeah, you see him with five assists in the first group; so he leads that group in assists, which is great," Fernández said. "Egor was good. I want him aggressive to shoot or to touch the paint, and he’s done it the whole summer. He’s worked at it, he’s stronger, and now he’s very comfortable getting there. So, it’s great. He’s got to keep doing it, got to keep finding his teammates or getting good shots."

Teammate Michael Porter Jr. added after the preseason win that he believes Dëmin can "make a humungous jump" in his sophomore season.

"I’m excited to play with Egor," Porter said. "He’s a phenomenal shooter and scorer, but also a great passer. So he can do a lot of things on the court, rebound, push the break, shoot the ball. And now that he’s getting in the paint and finishing around the rim, he’ll make a humongous jump."

When asked about his goals for the 2026-27 season, Dëmin is focused on winning.

"To win as many games as possible," Dëmin said. "Our process is oriented now on getting there each day, at least a little bit, but getting there, no matter whether it’s a game day, practice day, or an update."

Brooklyn gets its first chance at that goal when the team opens the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 21 against the Hornets.

LeBron James decided to suit up for the 76ers this season, but that sure doesn’t mean he wants to live in Philadelphia. In fact, he’s going to extraordinary lengths to avoid being there any longer than necessary. News emerged this last week that LeBron has decided to live in New York for the 2026-27 season, commuting to Philly for games and practice. That sounds like a colossal pain on the surface, considering it’s roughly a two-hour trip from city-to-city — but don’t worry, King James isn’t driving, instead he’s taking multiple helicopter trips a week to cut his travel time down to 30 minutes.

This wasteful and frankly ridiculous travel scheme would be one thing if it were on LeBron’s dime, but news that the travel is being paid for by Fanatics raises major questions about how the NBA is allowing a benefit like this. It feels especially hypocritical less than a month after the league announced significant sanctions against the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer for circumventing the salary cap with improper payments to Kawhi Leonard that exceeded his salary.

LeBron is making the NBA veteran minimum of $3.87M this season — but these arranged helicopter flights are so numerous and prolific that they might as well be baked into his deal. It was reported on Tuesday that James has taken as many as 12 trips via helicopter in a single week, and while it’s difficult to estimate the value of those flights taken on a privately owned helicopter, the service Blade, which is basically Uber for people who want to ride by helicopter, has a listed price of $4,645 one-way for trips from New York City to Philadelphia. This means LeBron would have racked up over $55,000 on trips alone in one week, and if we estimate he will be taking six trips per week during the regular season (and this still might be on the low side), then his benefit from these flights is tantamount to $668,000.

It’s a far cry from the $28M that Kawhi Leonard was paid under the table by sponsors of the Clippers, but it still rolls up to raise questions about how the NBA will deal, not just with direct payments, but questionable benefits that come from signing specific NBA contracts.

Fanatics is throwing up their hands and pleading ignorance, saying that LeBron has “access to corporate aviation,” as part of the endorsement deal he signed with the company in 2024. Most reasonably people would agree that there’s a fundamental difference between chartering a private jet to attend an event as part of an endorsement deal and taking 12 helicopter trips a week to facilitate NBA practices.

The water is made even muddier by the fact that Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin was a former partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owner of the 76ers. While Rubin sold his shares in the company in 2022, he remains extremely close to the 76ers organization. There are no fewer than 50 published photos of Rubin either sitting courtside at Sixers games or in the tunnel with players, all of which were taken after he sold his stake in the team.

Would these flight benefits be extended to LeBron if he signed with the Cavaliers? It’s clear Rubin is not simply a former owner of the Sixers, but a dedicated superfan who attends as many high-profile games as possible, maintaining a close personal relationship with the organization.

It’s not like LeBron couldn’t easily afford the trips with his own money. The charter flight fees are a drop in the bucket for a man who has earned over $575M from basketball alone, and is worth well over $1B when factoring in his endorsement deals. The question is more about how the NBA plans to enforce (or ignore) contracts, in an era where seemingly everyone is finding creative ways to circumvent the cap with extra kickers on deals. It also comes at a time when it’s fair to have scrutiny of any player movement decision when numerous players have deals with predictive marketing (gambling) companies. Giannis Antetokounmpo raised eyebrows by announcing his ownership stake in Kalshi shortly after he wasn’t traded during the 2025-26 NBA Trade Deadline, while it was reported that LeBron James has an agreement with Polymarket, which will pay him more this season than his NBA salary.

LeBron made massive waves when he spurned his long-term agreement with Upper Deck to sign an endorsement deal with Michael Rubin and Fanatics in early 2024. Two years later he signed with the team Rubin has direct ties to, and now he’s getting benefits from this side deal that enable a travel schedule no other team could match. It might not be against the NBA CBA to have agreements like this, but the whole situation feels extremely icky.

As we patiently wait for the Knicks to host the Wiz Kiz on Thursday…

…here are the latest quotables from around Tarrytown and elsewhere.

Mike Brown

On the Knicks’ lack of physicality against Philadelphia:

“What bothers me is our lack of physicality throughout the ball game, and that’s the whole roster up and down. We weren’t great on the ball physically and we weren’t great with our defensive positioning physically.

“The rest of the [issues are] coach talk. It’s real, but it’s coach talk that we’ll clean up watching film and all that stuff. I can’t help with the physicality. That they’ve gotta find individually, which will then turn into collectively, and that’s how you find minutes. That’s how you make the team. That’s how you contribute in a way where some of those other mistakes can be ‘OK, we’ll get better in that area and we’ll get better in this area.’

“But the physicality, we have to do a better job of that from top to bottom.”

On the Knicks making the game easy for the 76ers:

“They got to wherever they wanted to when it comes to getting to their spots and getting good shots. We didn’t contest, we didn’t rear-view challenge and we made the game easy for them. We just turned and took a step to the rim and they came right over our back and got the offensive rebound, so that I’m concerned about and I don’t want to see happen.”

On the Knicks’ poor 3-point shot selection:

“I don’t care if we go 0 for 40. We took 41 and 33 of those [threes] weren’t sprays. And that’s not how we play.”

Jalen Brunson

On the importance of the Knicks’ preseason opener:

“[I put] a good amount [of stock in this preseason game]. Obviously being results-based is not necessarily a focus, but it’s like process-driven and making sure the details are there and doing all the right things. I think those are the things you need to be concerned about, results-based not so much. Obviously we want to win but make sure the process is right.”

Bruce Brown

On the second apron being used as an excuse by teams when navigating freeagency:

“I heard that all summer.”

On being surprised by his diminished free-agent market:

“I was very surprised. I played every single game last year, played meaningful minutes the whole year. Thought I did decently or good enough in my role that I was given. But when free agency started, that wasn’t the case.”

On proving himself while competing for a Knicks roster spot:

“You got to prove yourself every year. I’ve been on eight teams in nine years. Every year you got to prove yourself, prove you’ve gotten better. But with this team obviously the first and second units are pretty set, I’d say. So obviously I’d have to provide a winning attitude. I’m fighting for a job right now. So any role they give me, I’d be happy to do it.”

On returning to New York after previously playing for the Nets during the KD era:

“I love New York. Obviously playing in Brooklyn, they’re little brother to the Knicks even if, at the time, they weren’t that good and we were really good. New York’s always a place I loved, loved winning, loved being around. When I got the call, I was like, ‘Yeah, for sure.’ ”

On wanting to play for a contender:

“As you know, at this point in my career, only contending teams look for me. So I’m just trying to compete for a championship. Go back to back and help them win again.”

On fighting for a guaranteed roster spot:

“It is what it is right now. I thought I played well enough last year to be in the running for a guaranteed job. But now I just got to show my work throughout the summer and my veteran leadership somehow.”

Stephen A. Smith

On seeing the 76ers as a threat to the Knicks:

“The Sixers can make a title run. The Sixers are the team to watch out for if you’re the New York Knicks. To me, it’s clearly about the Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers.”

On James Dolan and the lack of extensions for Leon Rose and William Wesley:

“Let me put everybody in New York on blast. That damn James Dolan is getting in the way again. We have some concerns. First of all, I don’t know if it’s news or not. Where the hell is the extension for Leon Rose? Where the hell is the extension for Worldwide Wes, William Wesley? Worldwide Wes and Leon Rose ended a 53-year drought and brought a championship to New York. Where’s their extension? Where is it? That’s number one.”

On the Knicks’ current contract offer to Karl-Anthony Towns:

“Number two, I’m not going to tell you that Karl-Anthony Towns deserves the max. I understand that you got Brunson and Anunoby coming down the pike, but you don’t disrespect that man by cutting him short by $77 million. You don’t do that. You give him a respectable offer.”

“You give him an offer that says, ‘Okay, listen. We need you to take this hit. Jalen Brunson took this hit. We need you to do it, too.’ So, it ain’t $277 million. It might be $225-$227 million, something along those lines because Brunson took a hit, too.”

“You might not like it, but it’s not disrespectful. You’re saying, ‘Listen, I got the cats that you want to keep with you. I’m going to have to touch that second apron. I’m going to have to take care of your other cats.’”

On the Knicks needing to take care of Jalen Brunson first:

“And we know you got to, to use his term, Big Body Brunson. We got to take care of him. That’s what we can’t go to Brunson and ask him to take another cut. The man delivered the chip, and he was the superstar that did it. Okay, he is the franchise. There will be a statue erected outside of Madison Square Garden for that man one day. He erased a 53-year drought.”

“Okay, we got to take care of Brunson. So, we might need y’all to take some hits, but you don’t disrespect him.”

On the Knicks’ history and Towns’ value to the championship team:

“For 53 years, the New York Knicks didn’t do anything but pass gas and try to tell us it was perfume. That’s what they did. They stunk up the joint year after year after year, and they finally won the chip.”

“Karl-Anthony Towns has everything to do with that. I’m not telling you that he ain’t worth—first of all, he’s worth the $277 million in today’s NBA economy. It’s just that, in light of other people you have to take care of, it’s going to call for some level of sacrifice.”

“But you don’t disrespect him. Karl-Anthony Towns deserves more money, and most importantly, he deserves to be respected and appreciated. And I’mma tell you why: New York has a problem.”

On his concerns about James Dolan after the Knicks’ championship:

“They got a problem because that same damn James Dolan that stunk up the joint for years running the New York Knicks franchise finally, after 27 years at the helm, won a chip.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if his mentality is, ‘All right, I delivered a chip. So now we can wait another quarter century before we win it again.’ He’s the kind of person that’ll have that kind of attitude and take that for granted.”

On what he sees as a broader problem with Knicks ownership:

“I’m speaking to a bigger problem. I’m speaking to a level of arrogance and dismissiveness on the part of the ownership that’s focused on the fact that he’s a champion now and not really reflecting on the years of ineptitude that he exercised running this franchise.”

“And if Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t taken care of, it sends the wrong message: ‘we don’t necessarily take care of our own.’ You see what I’m saying? And that’s where it’ll lead to you not winning for the next quarter-century and beyond when you ignore your own.”

“Even when the Lakers struggled, the Buss family always took care of the people who took care of them. That is what James Dolan has to remember.

“Leon Rose deserves his money. Worldwide Wes deserves his money. Brunson and Anunoby deserve their money. Karl-Anthony Towns deserves the money. They clearly made money for James Dolan this past season. Yeah, they made money for him. Let’s be clear.”