The NBA announced that they will ban ninja-style headbands this season. The LA Clippers, Montrezl Harrell, among others, is upset with the league’s decision.
What is this? The NFL? According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA has banned “ninja-style headbands” for the upcoming 2019-20 season. The league cites concerns regarding length, consistency of size and safety as reasons they don’t want players wearing them.
Needless to say, everyone is mad. A ton of players started to rock these headbands this past season, most notably Jrue Holiday, Montrezl Harrell, Jimmy Butler and Mike Scott. LeBron James was recently seen practicing in one. Fans loved them. Players loved them.
Among others, Montrezl Harrell took to Twitter to air his frustration with the league’s decision. Heads up, kiddos. There’s some curse words in the tweet!
https://twitter.com/MONSTATREZZ/status/1171156411033645056
Safety doesn’t really seem like a legitimate reason. Sure, players fingers could get caught in them during play, but that’s no different from the player’s shooting sleeves, regular headbands or even jerseys.
Last week when the ban was rumored, Mike Scott of the 76ers urged everyone to start a petition to save the headbands.
Start a petition lol send it to Nike. Cuz it’s definitely ova wit lol https://t.co/TqNvHby6mi
— Mike Scott (@mikescott) September 6, 2019
Blake Griffin weighed in on the situation but seemed more amused at the wording of Woj’s tweet.
i love that someone at the nba had to type the words “ninja-style hardware” and “consistency of size and length” as their job today https://t.co/n70otsakt1
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin23) September 9, 2019
The whole thing seems like a big to-do about nothing. To say the length of the headbands matters doesn’t really make sense. If a player decided to grow their hair out, would the league step in and say they have to cut it out of concern for others safety? How do WNBA player endure with other’s long hair hitting them? The horror.
According to Yahoo, the NBA Competition Committee is meeting on the headbands, so perhaps there is a change that this rule gets reversed. As I mentioned earlier, LeBron was seen wearing one so his clout with both the league and Nike could have some influence on getting this matter resolved.
With so many players already unhappy about the changes, it’s hard to see the NBA following through with this for long. Maybe the ban lasts this season, but it certainly seems like they will backpedal after getting so much push back.