Throughout the 2015 NBA Playoffs, every aspect of LeBron James and his performance was heavily scrutinized, right down to his on-court fashion choices, particularly his signature headband and compression sleeve. Leading a heavily depleted Cleveland Cavaliers team all the way to the NBA Finals was a gargantuan task, especially given the notable absences of fellow stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

However, James' ability to persevere was under such a heavy spotlight though, that when he didn't wear his signature headband and switched what arm he wore a compression sleeve on, fans and media alike went into a frenzy over his lack of accessories. Surprisingly though, it turns out what James wore and where he wore it actually affected his performance.

As Twitter user nbaayy illustrated in his graphic analyzing 'King James'' accessories or lack there of in addition to their placement on his body actually made a difference in his shooting percentage. While skeptics see accessories like these as having little impact on an athlete's performance, there are an overwhelming amount of people who buy into the hype of compression wear.

Jeremy Repanich of Deadspin investigated whether compression sleeves, shorts or other gear actually improved performance. Citing a "consumer-research report" Repanich pointed out that, "enough people believed these claims to make sales of compression gear jump 170 percent from 2008 to 2010, giving it a 5 percent share of the sports apparel market."

Billed as a tool for reducing injury, improving circulation and upping overall performance, compression wear's ability to provide an actual edge in performance has come under fire. "The clothes also are believed to reduce fatigue and soreness after exercise by literally squeezing the muscles with a kind of no-hands massage and, by increasing blood flow to muscles, help to flush out unwanted exercise-related biochemicals," writes Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times.

Kinesiology researcher, and Director of The Running Injury Clinic, Dr. Reed Ferber spoke on the topic to the University of Calgary's Kinesiology Faculty page. Noting a "study from New Zealand and Australia looked at 400m-sprint performance for a group of 11 male athletes" Ferber points out that "No differences in sprint time, 100m-split time, heart rate, blood lactate, or perceived soreness were found across the three conditions."

Reynolds cites Abigail Stickford's The International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance study of the sleeves' effect on runners. In the study, "16 competitive male distance runners" ran "on a treadmill at three, increasingly swift speeds." They then repeated the runs with compression sleeves on and the results were no different. "She found no statistically significant differences in their running efficiency or biomechanics when they wore the sleeves and when they did not" said Reynolds.

That being said, while compression sleeves made by brands like Adidas or Nike may not necessarily have any scientific benefit, the polyester and elastic sleeves at least offer some level of comfort, whether psychological or physical. When you rely so heavily on your shooting arm, anything you can do to keep it loose is worth a shot. For James' case though, the numbers don't lie, he undoubtedly shot better while wearing just the sleeve on his left arm. Unfortunately though, he was still unable to win the title. Maybe this season the sleeve will prove more valuable or maybe he'll just throw it in the garbage again.