By Resa Goldberg Designer Cary Mitchell has already sewed up much of the NBA. Now he's taking his style skills to other sports as well. Cary Mitchell may be the only non-lawyer to have profited from the NBA lockout. A custom-wardrobe designer to sports stars, Mitchell never misses an opportunity to nurture relationships with his famous clients and pick up a few new ones. In early January he was in New York when the NBA players' union agreed to a new contract. He estimates at least 20 players cornered him during one day to request something: Dell Curry needed new dark brown and navy suits; Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo requested a few two-piece outfits, and so the list goes. On any given night in any given NBA city you might see him working his contacts as astutely as Dean Smith once worked a game clock. Judging from the back-slapping camaraderie that exists between Mitchell and the athletes‹on the sidelines, in the locker room‹a casual observer could be forgiven for mistaking him as a player, albeit a rather diminutive one at 6'1". "It's all about networking," says Mitchell, 38, founder of Charlotte, N.C.-based Cary Mitchell Designs. "The NBA is like a fraternity; they choose their group very carefully." Clearly, Mitchell is a frat brother in good standing. So he hired an agent, C.C. Pyle, to negotiate an elaborate contract with the Chicago Bears. So it was that, after his last game for Illinois, Grange, in disguise, boarded a train to Chicago to begin barnstorming with the Bears. Goldberg is a writer in Charlotte, N.C.