Exclusive | NBA star Kyle Kuzma on fashion, Art Basel and dating model Winnie Harlow

On and off the court, Kyle Kuzma is a man in motion. He’s constantly evolving, whether it’s his approach to fashion, his innovative philanthropic moves or his gameplay. Just try to pin him down; he’s darting away before you can blink. The Washington Wizards forward joins Alexa on Zoom after a long afternoon practice — and a little postpractice ink.

“I was finishing a tattoo,” the six-foot-nine-inch athlete says by way of apology for his minor lateness. His newest body art joins an extensive canvas of what Kuzma estimates to be over 80 tattoos, from the cherub on his neck to the word “Flint” on his wrist — an homage to his beloved and besieged Michigan hometown — to the “Space Jam” Looney Tunes characters on his thigh. The new art is behind his leg, he shares; the man has to be running out of space at this point. “It’s a Great Depression quote from the ’30s,” he says. “It says ‘Make it do, or do without.’” 

For such a kinetic guy, I suggest, the process of getting inked must be a welcome opportunity to take a breath, even if it comes with a bit of a pinch. “Yeah, for sure, 100%,” he agrees in his soft-spoken baritone. “Just, like, calm out, work on your mental toughness.”

He’s Zooming from preseason training in Montreal, his lanky frame and blond hair swathed in a chocolate-brown, very soft-looking hoodie. Kuzma’s got an eye for a good fabric: Throughout his seven years in the NBA, he’s found fame for his pregame looks and his Fashion Week appearances, reliably accompanied by his supermodel girlfriend Winnie Harlow. 

Kuzma grew up in Flint and played basketball at the University of Utah before being drafted to the NBA in 2017. He played with the Lakers from 2017 to 2021, including their 2020 championship year, before being traded to the Wizards, where this year he re-signed to a four-year, $102 million contract. He was honored on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Sports list this year, and named an ambassador for David Yurman.

What draws his interest to a certain look or design, he says, is how the outfit contributes to his narrative and how he’s commenting on the culture through it. “It’s when you’re painting a picture, making a look — not just throwing clothes on,” he says. “It’s clothing, but it’s not clothing.”

His shoot with Alexa was no exception. “I just loved the vibe we had,” he says. “It was very different than a regular photo shoot. It was telling a story. We were in a midcentury home, and I think that really set it off in the tone, the aesthetic we were going after. Fifties, but new at the same time.”

Then there was his most viral fashion moment in 2021, an enormous Raf Simons pink sweater whose sleeves and hem hung way, way below his hands and waist. It was a candy-colored caricature, a comment on the experience of being an unusually gigantic person. “My wearing a huge sweater, like, that is my painting of that. Sarcastically,” he says.

But just as he was becoming known as the king of outré tunnel ’fits with his pregame fashion statements, Kuzma changed course, announcing to Vogue in late October that he was giving up the practice. And he did it in his trademark thoughtful manner. “I can speak from experience that when you’re a younger player, you don’t want to wear the same thing twice. A lot of times we get played into thinking, Oh, we gotta switch it up, we gotta buy something new. And now we’re just buying clothes to impress people or to stand out. It’s ludicrous,” he told the fashion mag.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Kuzma won’t show up for designers who mean something to him. He’s walked in multiple New York Fashion Week shows, notably a tentacled Puma look in 2022 and a bold, black and red leather suit at the Sp5der show this fall. He attended the Rick Owens show in Paris this summer, naturally: “My whole closet is Rick Owens, pretty much,” he told Nylon at the time.

“I do things now with people I call friends,” he says. “I think the world has just gotten a little too mixy, like, a little lost on relationship building. So I’m being very selective, very mindful.”

At the moment, he’s excited to nurture artistic relationships at Art Basel, whose Miami Beach fair, now in its 22nd year, runs from December 6 to 8. Kuzma, who has a place in Miami for when he’s not in DC, has long been an art fan and collector; his tastes run to daring modern art with something to say. “One artist I like is Derrick Adams,” Kuzma shares. (You may remember Adams from his portrait of Lucious and Cookie Lyon on “Empire,” which became a Season 5 plot point.) “I have a piece he did for me that reflects my life, in a sense,” Kuzma says. “He made me a painting that was, like, being biracial in America. It has the US flag and an African flag, and then it had just, like, my vantage point of life.”

Kuzma’s also a photographer and painter himself. But the installation he’s most excited about at Art Basel this year is a sonic experience. “It’s going to be a music group called Keinemusik; they use electronic beats to create a journey within the music,” he says. “Going through one of their sets is, like, sonically producing a picture for your life. It’s very deep. The sonic beats heighten your mood. They make you think about certain things, because of the kind of euphoric state it puts you in.”

He radiates an intense curiosity about a wide range of subjects, and has used his NBA earnings to delve into his off-court passions — fashion, but also the art world, fine wines and philanthropy. For the latter, he teamed up with his mom, Karri Kuzma, to launch the Kyle Kuzma Family Foundation, which focuses on empowering single mothers and helping underprivileged kids. It also focuses on rehabilitation of incarcerated women, which Kuzma notes is an underdiscussed subject with an outsized stigma. 

“Women in jail are extremely marginalized,” says Kuzma. “When a woman goes to jail, there’s a whole different stigma to it. You never know people’s environments, and the context of why they’re in jail. Some might be forced into prostitution. Some may be in jail from trying to save their lives. And not to mention, you know, the trauma in the ecosystem they grew up in, the hard life.” In a fall event last year at the Genesee County Jail, Kuzma paid a surprise visit to incarcerated women who were visiting with their children, bringing Christmas gifts for the kids and over $60,000 of clothing donated for the women to wear upon release. 

His involvement in philanthropy, he says, was inspired by striking up a friendship with Chris Swanson, the sheriff of Michigan’s Genesee County, who made a name for himself in 2020 during the George Floyd protests when he famously put down his riot gear to side with the protestors. “He’s a great man. I love his ideologies,” says Kuzma.

Kuzma’s organization raised $825,000 at the organization’s inaugural Celebrity Golf Tournament in Miami this year, where attendees included Cedric the Entertainer, Denver Nuggets power forward Aaron Gordon, Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell and Phoenix Suns point guard Devin Booker. “All my partners, business partners, showed out, and that was very fun to see,” Kuzma says. “Now we can really get to work and do some impactful things.”

Supporting him in all his endeavors is Harlow, with whom he’s been in a relationship since 2020. The two live together, and love to travel together too, when they can. Fashion weeks are a no-brainer, and although Kuzma says Paris is his all-time favorite, it was Italy that made the biggest impression this year. “Milan really inspired me. Just the lifestyle there, how people put clothes on for everyday. You know, dress like they’re important, like they’re going somewhere.” He and Harlow attended the Cannes Film Festival for their second year in a row, making two head-turning red carpet appearances in paired outfits.

Kuzma’s secret for keeping it fresh in a romantic relationship (other than sartorial coordination)? Maintaining that sense of curiosity and openness. It’s all about “continuing to rediscover each other,” he says. “Being able to talk about interesting things. Watching a movie together, and asking her what she saw. Really getting into each other’s minds.” Last year, the couple took the GQ couples quiz, showcasing their adoring style of debate.

From love to sports to life, Kuzma says, his secret to success is simple: “I’m very inquisitive. I think that’s the number one thing. I ask questions to learn,” he says. “I work really hard. I put in the hours so naturally, I’m confident and prepared.” Now let’s see if the world is prepared for him.

Photographer: Photo by Michael Schwartz; Editor: Serena French; Stylist: Jan-Michael Quammie at The Wall Group; Barber: Tune ThaBarber Padgett; Groomer: Daniela Gozlan at The Wall Group using MAC; Photo Editor: Jessica Hober; Talent Booker: Patty Adams Martinez; Fashion Assistant: Talia Restrepo; On-set Fashion Assistant: Michelle Ball, On-set Tailor: Daniela Emery