Jared McCain played two of his best games during the First and Second Rounds of March Madness. The Duke Blue Devils star led his college basketball team to the Sweet 16 with a game-high 30 points against James Madison after dropping 15 on Vermont.
And he did so with his nails painted. Gasp!
McCain, a five-star freshman, was one of the five best players at his position and a top-15 player overall. In addition to his on-court fame, the 6-foot-3, 197-pound combo guard is one of the highest-paid NIL earners in college sports and a TikTok star. He boasts more than 2.5 million followers!
The real-life Troy Bolton’s singing voice is actually quite pleasant and his dances always go viral.
It is a full-time job!
Part of what makes McCain so popular is his individualism. There is nobody else in college basketball like him. He is his own personality and unapologetically himself.
Perhaps most importantly, he is always having fun!
Jared McCain does what he likes.
That includes painting his nails. McCain is rarely on the court or in public without a coat of colored nail polish on his fingers.
It started back during quarantine in 2020 and stuck. Especially because he started to play really well.
Of course, there are people who do not like McCain because of his painted nails. He told Complex back in October that he simply does not care.
Like I’m always just gonna be myself and as for the painted nails, I saw it during quarantine and I just started doing it. I never saw anything wrong with it like. I understand girls do it. I understand men have started to do it a little more recently, but it was just something I saw and I like to get manicures and pedicures. I take care of my body. Some of these people hate, I don’t know if they do take care of their body.
So, I just like getting the color and it’s always been myself. I’ve always been big on just being yourself in any situation possible. And never letting somebody tell you what, what you can and can’t be. So doing the painted nails is kind of a part of me now. I just kind of do it whether I get hate or not […]
The hate is funny because it’s usually grown men most of the time and it’s like you’re a grown man just hating on a kid. It doesn’t affect me at all. I kind of just laugh at it.
— Jared McCain via Complex
As he prepares for the Sweet 16, McCain partnered Sally Hansen to explain how the painted nails came to be. The American beauty brand signed the Duke star to an NIL deal during March Madness.
Not only did McCain take the opportunity to silence the haters, he got paid to do so! The people that don’t like him must be so mad.