Why Matthew Dellavedova, Cavaliers fan favorite, wears his wedding ring on his shoe for each game

When it’s time for Matthew Dellavedova to slip out of his street clothes and into the NBA uniform he’s wearing that night, he slides the left shoelace out of the hole at the top of his left shoe.

Delly takes his gold wedding ring, the one he’s worn each day since July 1, 2017, when Anna Schroeder put it on his finger, and threads the shoelace through it. Then, the shoelace goes back through the hole at the top his left Delly 1 signature basketball shoe, made by the Chinese company Peak. And that’s where it stays, until the game is over.

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Dellavedova has played 57 total games since marrying Schroeder — 50 for the Milwaukee Bucks and the past seven with the Cavaliers, and each time he’s worn his wedding ring just like that. Knotted onto his shoe.

“Why? So I don’t lose it,” Delly said, when I asked. “We take it on and off so much, I really don’t want to lose it, you know. It’s obviously special, and you know, I’m very proud to be married to her. So, I don’t want to lose it.”

Now, before you faint or call Hallmark and tell them you have an idea for a Christmas movie next season, Dellavedova’s not perfect. I mean, when we spoke for this story, he had not yet done his holiday shopping for his wife.

How late was he? That’s for me to know and for her to not find out.

The NBA is full of married guys. Most (if not all) don’t wear their rings during games for an obvious reason — if they stub a finger and it swells, either the finger or the ring is in danger. If you’ll allow, this actually happened to me once, playing rec league hoops at the YMCA in Toledo when I was covering the University of Michigan football team for the Toledo Blade many years ago. I showed up to practice the next day with a finger so swollen, all the injured Wolverines gathered around the training table as team trainers lubed my finger to yank my ring over my knuckle.

But tying the ring on his shoe and wearing it for every game? Well, it’s rare. Mark Jackson and Kenny Smith did it in the 1990s. According to a Los Angeles Times story from 1993, Smith did it until he took his shoe off after a game and gave it to a fan. More recently, tennis star Andy Murray tied his ring to his shoe.

Delly can’t exactly say the ring is a good luck charm. His season was cut to just 38 games last year by injuries, and this season he wasn’t playing much in Milwaukee before the trade to Cleveland. Of course, in a small sample size since rejoining the Cavs, he’s averaging a career-high (by quite a bit) 11.0 points. So maybe there’s some hooping magic in that ring, yet.

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As for his reason for wearing the ring on his kicks, there are lockboxes at every locker in the NBA, so the odds of Dellavedova actually losing the ring are rather small.

“You can’t jinx me now — if I lose it, I’m not going to be happy with you,” he said.

The Cavs at present are tied for the worst record in the NBA. They’ve already lost 26 games. It’s Christmastime, and Cleveland loves it some Delly. So, we’re lightening the mood here.

Dellavedova, 28, met Schroeder when they were in college together at St. Mary’s College of California. They’ve dated since then, and became engaged in September 2016, after Delly and the Cavs won the 2016 NBA championship and he signed his four-year, $39 million deal with the Bucks.

Before they were married, when her then-boyfriend was making (on average) about $1 million as an undrafted player his first two seasons with the Cavs, Schroeder was a popular substitute teacher in some suburban school districts south of Cleveland. She’s originally from Concord, California, and like her husband was an athlete (volleyball) at St. Mary’s.

Dellavedova said he got the idea for tying the ring from an Australian Olympic team teammate back in 2012. David Barlow, a 6-9 forward on the team, tied his wedding band on his shoelace, too.

“I always thought that was just a good idea,” Delly said. “So, I’ve got to give him the shoutout. He’s currently ballin’ for Melbourne in the NBL.”

Barlow, take a bow. You’re getting partial credit for bringing back one of the more unique in-game rituals in the NBA.

And Delly, go get your shopping done.

“Sometimes when I get my ankles taped I’m like, ‘Oh, shit. Where’s the ring?’ ” Dellavedova said. “ ‘Never mind, it’s on my shoe.’ ”

(Top photo of Matthew Dellavedova: David Liam Kyle / Getty Images)

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