Tre Mann Is Single-Handedly Bringing Giant Shorts Back to the NBA

Tre Mann, born February 3, 2001, was not technically alive for Y2K. But it seems clear that he has a real appreciation for that micro-moment in time. The breakout sensation for the Charlotte Hornets has made a name for himself in the early part of this NBA season, putting up nearly 15 points per game and shooting 38% from three, well up from his career averages. And he’s been doing so while dressing—off the court, but especially on it—like it’s 2001 all over again.

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During this current decade, the trend has been shorter shorts and tight jerseys, often with a shooting sleeve on the arms and leggings covering the legs. Not for Mann. He entered this season (his first full season with the Hornets after being traded from Oklahoma City at last year’s deadline) with a clear aesthetic vision. With knee-hugging shorts, a billowy jersey, and a classic white headband, Mann is throwing us all back to the 2000s, when every NBA game was littered with guys who dressed like this.

“There were times last year when my shorts were too short,” Mann said in a recent video call. “I just didn’t feel good out there. I don’t know, I won’t blame it all on that. But I do believe if you look good, you feel good, you play good.” During the offseason, he went back to the drawing board, and returned for the 2024 campaign with a new look we can only call Iversonian. But Mann points out that the seeds were planted not in Charlotte but in the Oklahoma plains, and it was actually a different early aughts bucket getter atop his mental mood board.

“The idea first came when I was with OKC last year,” he explains. “I was just having fun with my teammates and decided to wear a baggy uniform in practice. They thought it was funny. I kept wearing it throughout the year, and went into the summer doing the same thing. Then I saw a picture of Tracy McGrady. His shorts were super low, and I just liked the look!” He thought: I’m gonna bring this back.

Logistically, this meant enlisting the talents of Hornets equipment manager Jason Rivera, known as J Bird. Last year, as Mann was getting used to his new surroundings, he says he was hesitant to go all out right from the start. So, he slowly introduced the baggy clothing into his practice and workout wardrobes first. “I couldn’t do a jersey yet, because I didn’t know how it worked!” Mann laughed. But when he reported for training camp this year knowing he was going to be part of Charlotte’s rotation, Mann felt confident enough to approach J Bird about changing up his in-game look, too. “The game stuff didn’t start until this year,” Mann said. NBA jerseys, he explained, don’t exactly come in small, medium, and large. “It goes by numbers,” he said. And this season? “I have the biggest jersey on the team, like I’m wearing a big man’s uniform. I think it’s a 52. I was around 44 or 46 before. Nobody else on our team has a 52 right now,” not even seven-foot, 245-pound center Nick Richards. (Mann is listed at 6’3” and a slender 178lbs.)

As Mann’s jersey has gotten bigger, so have his numbers. He has become one of the most prolific bench scorers in the Eastern Conference, and he’s also yet to miss a free throw this season. But he doesn’t want to give all the credit to the clothes. “I wasn’t this type of player until I put on the bigger uniform,” he joked. “But nah, I wouldn’t say it’s the uniform. I do feel more comfortable, though. It’s all about me being more comfortable. I guess you could say the uniform played a part.”

People have taken notice, too. There’s been praise from NBA Twitter, as well as his coach. Dudes around the league, all of whom recognize Mann’s talent as a hooper and as a dresser, have been paying attention, too. “Bam [Adebayo] in preseason said I was looking like AI,” Mann remembered fondly. “Somebody from the Knicks said, ‘I mess with the baggy stuff.’ Tyrese Haliburton was talking about it. Guys definitely comment on it, but it’s never to joke around. I think everybody really mess with the look.” He also insists that this is something that he wants to do for the rest of his career. Everyone pining for the halcyon days of Champs Sports, flip phones, and Nelly music videos can rejoice. Mann is standing ten toes down on this, and he doesn’t particularly care if the rest of the NBA follows suit. “It wasn’t a goal of mine to talk to people and get them to do it, it’s just something that I wanted to do.”

When it comes to his at-home closet, Mann gravitates toward flowier options as well. But because Mann is young enough to have missed the first true baggy wave, he says he was made fun of in middle school for going bigger and wider as everyone else went tighter. During his rookie year in the NBA, he says he was still wearing some of his best high school fits, until he started forming a relationship with a then-teammate who doubles as the league’s resident fashion head. “Being around Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], he started having baggier clothes in general. I picked up on that,” Mann said. “He was my vet; he took me shopping a couple of times. Being around him, I got baggier off the court, but this summer is when I went super baggy. Like, four times my size.” (Which can be tough: due to societal trends, he said, it can be hard to find lounging-around shorts that are long enough for his liking.)

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Hornets

As Mann’s arrow continues pointing up—why settle for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award when there are Met Gala invites to procure?—he’s been on the receiving end of numerous fan comments. In the arena, on social media, and at fashion magazines, he’s generating discourse each time his size-52 uni graces the court. Whether it’s positive or negative, the 23-year-old is not going to stop cutting his own, unique silhouette.

“It’s different opinions: some people like it, some people think I’m cosplaying people,” he said, adding air quotes to the end of that last sentence. “It is what it is. I’m just being myself. I’m gonna stay with it.”