Every time Nick Richards takes the court, there is something unusual going on around his size 16 feet.

It’s not some special-designed shoes or funny-colored shoestrings; instead, he wears his socks inside out.

“When I was in high school, this guy that – me and him were really close friends, and he wore his socks inside out, so I just figured why not just do it,” Richards said. 

Richards first started wearing his socks inside-out his sophomore year of high school, when his Patrick School teammate and close friend Brandt Roundtree wore his socks inside out also. Richards has since worn his socks inside out at every practice and game he’s played in.

However, when Richards is walking around campus in Lexington, don’t expect him to be wearing any socks at all. 

“I mostly wear Uggs when I walk around class so I don’t really wear socks with Uggs,” Richards said.

Richards also said Roundtree still definitely wears his socks inside out, which first began with Roundtree’s family.

“Actually, everybody in his family wears their socks inside out, so that’s where I got it from,” Richards said.

When Richards first started wearing his socks inside out, he noticed no difference in feeling or comfort, so he figured why not keep wearing them that way.

In fact, Richards finds inside-out socks to be more stylish than wearing socks normally.

“It’s just something I like to do, to me, it looks better inside out,” Richards said.

However, Richards hasn’t been able to convince his teammates to consistently wear their socks inside out with him. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jonny David have taken turns wearing their socks inside out, but they don’t do it as consistently as Richards.

“I only wear my socks inside out because I’m too lazy to flip them back, so I just throw them on and get out there on the court,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

Dominique Hawkins did the same thing during his time at UK, according to David, who has been around the team the longest. There would be times when Hawkins would take off his shoes and his socks naturally flipped inside out, and he was too lazy to switch them back.

David eventually gave inside-out socks a try himself, but like Richards, he found the feeling of inside-out socks to be the same as wearing socks regularly, so he decided to wear his socks unflipped. 

“It looks different but it still feels the same. If that’s your thing, then that’s your thing,” David said.

Wearing socks inside out is definitely Richards’ thing, who doesn’t plan on stopping the tradition anytime soon during his basketball career, even if some of his teammates don’t think it looks as good as Richards thinks. 

“That’s Nick’s opinion and he’s entitled to that,” David said.