FANS are still chuckling about Charles Barkley bursting out of the garish purple sports jacket he wore to the National Basketball Association draft more than a quarter-century ago. And who could forget Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls striding onstage in an oversize tan tuxedo and a giant paisley bow tie that seemed straight out of the Ringling Brothers fall men’s line?
“Before, players used to come looking right off the playground,” Mr. Sager said backstage before the main event, sounding like a lonely peacock. “Now they have handlers, they have agents, they all want to make them look nice.”
