Kelly Olynyk spent $36,000 on Spurs’ custom-made black playoff suits

Kelly Olynyk realized as a rookie with Boston in 2013-14 how good it’s for youthful gamers to have a veteran teammate assist them out.

“One of my vets was Rajon Rondo,” Olynyk mentioned. “And one day Rondo called me and said, ‘Meet me at my house.'”

When Olynyk arrived, he discovered a tailor ready for him to take his measurements for a custom-made go well with. In current years, Olynyk has been paying Rondo’s kindness ahead by gifting suits to his rookie teammates.

Traded final July to the Spurs from Washington, Olynyk deliberate to offer suits to rookies Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant earlier than the season’s finish, however after the Spurs clinched a playoff berth on March 19, the Thirteenth-year large man got here up with a special plan.

“When we made the playoffs, I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s do it for everybody,'” he mentioned.

Olynyk’s largesse was on show Sunday night time when the Spurs arrived on the Frost Bank Center for Game 1 of their playoff collection with Portland wearing fashionable black custom-tailored suits created by Miami-based bespoke tailor Jay Amin, proprietor of AMIN New York in Manhattan and his different showrooms in Miami and Hoboken, New Jersey.

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The black suits symbolize “the way this team is united and together,” Olynyk mentioned. He spent greater than $36,000 to outfit the complete 18-man roster.

“(Forward) Keldon (Johnson) said it a bunch of times before, ‘Everything we do, we do together,'” Olynyk advised the San Antonio Express-News after observe Monday.

As one of many few gamers on the crew with deep-run playoff expertise after serving to Miami attain the 2020 Finals, Olynyk needed the Spurs to enter the postseason extra united than ever.

“I thought with a lot of these guys, they don’t know what they don’t know,” Olynyk mentioned. “The playoffs are different. It’s a business. You got to be together. You got to block out everything else. We’ve got to be united. So I thought, ‘Let’s do something. Let’s do it together and show everybody we’re here, we’ve arrived and we’re ready to go.'”

Making it occur wasn’t simple for Amin, who grew to become buddies with Olynyk when the Toronto native performed with the Heat for 4 seasons from 2018-2021. After the Spurs clinched their playoff berth, Olynyk advised Amin he wanted the suits in roughly two weeks.

“I was like, ‘Two weeks?’ “Amin mentioned. “It usually takes us three to make a suit.”

But Amin, 41, accepted the problem and started working as a result of he thinks that a lot about Olynyk.

“We have become super close,” Amin mentioned. “I was at his wedding and he is one of those guys who is hard not to love.”

Step one was to get the gamers’ measurements whereas they have been in Miami to face the Heat on March 23. Fittings and changes carried out by Amin befell throughout an off day final week in San Antonio.

“It was obviously a very quick turnaround with a lot of stress involved, but we were able to get them across the finish line,” mentioned Amin, who threw within the shirts as a present.

“I am very proud of my team. We all went the extra mile, and we will be proud of this for a very long time.”

The suits have been a giant hit with the gamers. They beat the Trail Blazers 111-98 on Sunday, which additionally occurred to be Olynyk’s thirty fifth birthday.

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“That’s Kelly,” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama mentioned with a smile from the rostrum when requested after the sport concerning the suits. “Happy birthday, by the way. He took the initiative to make us all wear the same thing. That’s good. It’s a good team thing.”

Johnson, who’s extra comfy in boots, blue denims and a cowboy hat — apparel befitting the proprietor of a ranch in Boerne — mentioned Sunday in all probability marked the primary time he is worn a go well with since he sported an all-white one with a black bow tie on the 2019 NBA draft in Brooklyn.

“It was amazing,” he mentioned of Olynyk’s present. “I feel like everybody was in unison. It was a big connective thing for the team. We like to do everything together and have fun and enjoy it. And it was good to see everybody dressed up in suits and putting their own spin on it.”

Olynyk, whose equipment included sun shades and a backward baseball cap, did not get into Sunday’s sport till the ultimate minute, however he thought he contributed to the crew’s confidence coming into the postseason by ensuring they have been all sharp-dressed males.

“Look good, feel good, play good,” he mentioned.