Every WEIRD Thing Banned By The NBA..

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The NBA bans a lot of weird stuff. Shoes, dances, hating on LeBron. And one of the strangest bands I've ever seen is when the NBA bans shorts. See, in 2005, NBA commissioner David Stern hated hip hop's fashion. Baggy shorts, long chains, sideways hats. He felt that that look represented the NBA poorly. So when he saw NBA players start wearing that, it drove him crazy. He literally made it his mission to ban everything that resembled hip hop culture. I'm talking sleeveless shirts, hats, chains, sunglasses. He even banned headphones. Ridiculous. But the worst ban of them all was baggy shorts.
And this baggy shorts ban led to one of the most expensive fines ever. Yeah, I'm not joking. There's even a Wikipedia page dedicated to this. Anytime a player is representing the NBA, they're not allowed to wear this stuff. That means in game, during interviews, or on the bench. And Alan Iverson, he was the victim. Him and a few teammates, they decided to protest the NBA by wearing the baggiest shorts they could find. Now, based on the NBA's rules, a player's shorts could only go this low.
Any lower. And you were in trouble. Now, you might be thinking, who's going to keep track of how long someone's shorts are? There's no way the NBA can hire someone to track shorts.
Well, they did. Officially in late 2005, they literally hired their first fashion police. A job where some dude is just sitting and watching the game live, looking for anyone disobeying this rule. So when David Stern saw this protest, he knew exactly what to do. Hitting the 76ers with a $200,000 fine. And on top of that, the NBA fined every player $10,000 for every game they wore these shorts. Now I see why James Harden is wearing shorts like this. He ain't trying to get in trouble with the fashion police. But at least wearing long shorts isn't cheating. There's actually a pair of shoes so crazily overpowered, the NBA literally had to ban players from wearing them. Yeah, coming into the 2010 season, these shoes were making waves across the NBA. And I'm not talking about no Nikes, Jordans, or Adidas. I'm talking about the Athletic Propulsion Labs, or APLs for short. Now, I know at first glance they don't really look crazy, but when the league ran some tests on these shoes, they found that these shoes literally give players superpowers. Yeah, I'm not joking. These shoes have built-in springs and a strap that locks your foot in. So when you take off and jump, it boosts your vertical by 4 inches. Just think about if you gave Steph another 4 inches. This dude would be out here dunking like Lebron and shooting threes like, well, Steph. But the fun never lasts, man. And the NBA officially banned the APL Concept 1s in 2010
Now, I guess shoes that are cheating, it makes sense why they got banned. But the NBA banning a taunt?
Why would they do that? Well, back in 2004, Sam Cassell busted out a move. Nobody else had the balls to do, literally. During the playoffs, the Timberwolves were desperate for a championship, and things were pretty shaky during Game 2 of the semifinals against the Kings. With 30 seconds left, the Timberwolves were up 1
Sam had the ball, dribbled to the corner, took the shot, bang. He put them up by 3, ran down the court, and that's when he showed the world just how big his balls are. Now, here's where things get ridiculous. Apparently, while doing this time, Cassell twisted the wrong way and literally fractured his hip.
How does that even happen? Man, maybe you should have kept the size of your balls to yourself, man. This injury was so brutal, Cassell had to sit out multiple games during the next series, and the Lakers went on to beat the Wolves 4-2. This loss was crushing for the team, and Sam Cassell was the man to blame, only putting up 9 points and 2 assists per game, which is half of his average, all because of this stupid injury. Even their coach, Flip Saunders, blamed the time, saying, he made a shot out the corner in game 2, and he did his little big balls dance.
And from that, he created a little fracture in his hip. We lost a championship from that. No question, I think about that dance all the time. Damn, this man really having nightmares, 20 years later, of Sam Cassell playing with his balls.
But, that's not the only thing Saunders had to say.
He went on to tell reporters that, if you don't drop a like and subscribe to the channel, you're gonna fracture your hip. Yeah, that's right. You could be walking around like a grandma. And I know you can't risk that. So what are you doing? But anyways, you think Sam would retire the taunt after this injury, right? Well, because the NBA didn't ban it right then and there, Sam kept doing it, and it became a staple of his career. He even inspired players like Kobe, Eddie House, Jameer Nelson, and Kevin Martin to do the move. But in 2011, when Josh Smith pulled his Big Balls taunt out against the Knicks, the NBA realized this taunt was spreading and it needed to be stopped. So they deemed the taunt as inappropriate for basketball, especially for the kids watching. And they made an example out of Josh, finding him $25,000 for doing it. And ever since then, the move has pretty much gone extinct. Now, $25,000 is a lot of money. But one player had an addiction so dangerous, the NBA was forced to ban it to save his life.