The NBA is a business and like any business you need to make money. On a local sports talk radio station here they were discussing how 2 sponsors to the NBA (that were not named) were behind pusing for this change. Stern, not wanting to loose the money that is poured into the NBA by these sponsors enacted this dress code. Now these sponsors are also companies that are trying to make money and the theory is that they were getting complaints from their consumers about them being a sponsor to the NBA that looked pretty ragged at times. These sponsors want to make money and to do so listen to their customers.

There is something about lookingprofessional when traveling to and from a sporting event. When I was in public schools we had to wear at the very minimum pants, shirt and tie on the day we had a soccer/basketball/baseball game. I see no issue with the NBA setting dress standards for their players. If the players do not like it then they can join another league where they can. But if they like the money then they need to live by the rules.