The Most Iconic Celebrations in NBA History

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Now, not only do stars around the league have a unique play style, but the one-of-a-kind signature celebrations have also helped them become so iconic. Now, LeBron James ought to be considered one of the best players in the world, and of course, reaching celebrity status like few players before him off the court, is exactly why celebrations continue to have an impact both in the NBA and other leagues as well. The Silencer, this is legendary, one of LeBron's ways of expressing himself, and he's done so on many occasions. Now, he seemed to do it while playing in Miami, after hitting a ridiculous three-pointer to win 111 to 110 against the Warriors, and he of course did the celebration in the Heat vs Celtics Playoffs Series. LeBron's Silencer celebration is one that he uses in high-leverage moments when he's in a zone, and he recently spoke about the move that he's been doing for years when he said, I've had opportunities to do it obviously lately. It is great when you have other athletes, not only in your own respective sport, but other sports to respect what you do and know the meaning behind it. I've always been humble that I can see other athletes mimic some of the things that I do. And many famous athletes have adopted the Silencer from LeBron James over the years, including Usain Bolt in the Olympics, and many NFL players doing it as well. And LeBron spoke about being grateful for people who do his celebrations, saying, I've seen Julian Edelman for the Patriots. I've seen someone else do it. Oh, Dwayne Bowe from the Chiefs did it. Carlos Hyde of Ohio State did it too. It's pretty cool, man. I watch football. I'm a huge football fan. And to see what I do on the court could translate to the NFL, that's pretty cool. But something else that LeBron's been known to do, and he's brought back a few times this season, is his iconic pregame chalk toss. Now this began during his early Cleveland days and became something that hyped up fans like crazy, knowing it was time for LeBron to do his thing. Nobody had done something like this, so it quickly became iconic, which has been a rare thing that he does here with the Lakers, just like wearing a headband. He saves these for random occasions. But recently, LeBron has asked a little bit about this ritual, and he said, I don't remember the first time I started to do it, but I felt the fans start to embrace it. I started to really set my mind and get focused to what was at task when I started to do it. Doing it on the road sometimes, you get booed, so I love it. At home, they go crazy. I don't know what made me start doing it. I don't know. Great things happen sometimes. Now with James Harden quickly becoming one of the most legendary scorers we've ever seen, this one-of-a-kind moves and of course, the signature celebrations are making him one of the league's most popular players. With James gaining comparisons to players like Wilt Chamberlain because of his scoring, something that's caught a lot of attention is the way that Harden celebrates after hitting one of his ridiculous step backs or a highlight dunk. One of James' most iconic rituals is of stirring the pot or cooking. This move is something that people replicate today because it went so viral whenever Harden did it that the entire world learned of the celebration. Back in 2015 is when James cooking his defenders really went viral and when he was asked about it, he said, I'm just trying to be who I am myself. I just go out there and make an impact in the game with basketball and be myself. I started doing it with some of my friends. No name for it. And a few of the rockest teammates of James back then also weighed on the special move. Trevor Ariza said, all marquee players have their own marquee thing that they do. So it's great that James has something that he does that everybody has caught on to and everybody's taken a liking. My kids do it all the time at the house. And Dwight Howard said, when he scores or whatever, he puts somebody in the blender, starts the pot. It's fun. It's entertaining for kids, so it's good. Another one of Harden's crazy rituals is when he pretends to have a nosebleed after attacking the basket, which is full of the other team, fans, and even announcers. Harden held his face pretending to have a nosebleed after his dunk gave the Rockets a 48-33 second quarter lead in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors in 2018 Immediately after he landed, he held his hand over his face, which fooled commentator Marv Albert, who said Harden had lost his contact, but this wasn't the contact lens. It was actually a post-dunk celebration that Harden has done for years. We seem to break this out after an explosive burst to the rim, as he does something crazy, and it's yet another thing about Harden's game that makes him unique. Harden recently sat down with USA Today Sports, and he talked about a few things, including a signature move when he said, I feel like when you got something going and you're making shots, you're in a rhythm, and it's kind of your swag. It's kind of something that just happened. You see little kids doing it, and even a couple of my teammates said their kids at home are watching games and doing it at home. So it's funny, but you know, it's impactful. Harden also spoke about wanting a step back and a celebration to be the first things you think of when you hear his name. He said, it's something that I work on. But you know, Mike had his fade away, Dirk had his one leg, and Kareem had his skyhook. I want my step back to be one of those moves that lasts forever. It's me being a creator and me being an innovator, paving the way in basketball my own way, doing what I want to do. That's what it's all about. As little kids playing in these parks, that's what I imagine. That's what I dreamed of. Now it's coming to reality, so it's pretty cool. Now, even though D'Angelo Russell is still a young player, proving himself in the NBA, he's already had an influential impact while with the Lakers and Nets. D'Angelo showed a lot of promise right from the start of his career, but a controversy with Nick Young pretty much led to him being dealt away. Once Russell got to Brooklyn, however, he turned into an All-Star, and he turned around the Nets as well. This past offseason, things changed when D'Angelo went to Golden State, but the spotlight continues to be on him because of his potential. But an important aspect of D'Angelo's game comes from his ability to hit tough shots, and the confidence that he shoots them with led to a celebration that instantly went viral and has been replicated from many players since. Ice has been in Russell's veins, and the celebration has been something that we've seen from him in LA and Brooklyn during clutch moments. During his first year in a summer league game against the 76ers, Russell had a game winner from deep at the buzzer, and as he ran to his bench, he did the signature move. In 2016, when Russell was a rookie and he had the best game of his career up to that point, the 20-year-old scored 39 points, and he went 8 for 12 behind the three-point line. With 30 seconds left in the game, D'Angelo hit a dagger three from beyond the three-point line and that gave the Lakers a six-point lead, and he ran back, pointing to his left forearm and screaming out the ice in his veins. Now D'Angelo Russell recently sat down with GQ, where he answered some questions, including some about his signature move and how he came up with it. Russell was first asked where the celebration came from, and he said, It's something my dad said growing up. He always said you had to be prepared for big moments. You gotta have ice in your veins. You gotta have no feelings. You have to go out there and play your hardest and do what you do. That was the celebration for when I performed well and knowing he prepared me mentally. He then asked at what age he began chasing the big moments, and he said 15 Another question GQ had for D'Angelo was them asking when he first pulled the celebration out, and he said, this footage will be doing it in high school. I think we were playing on ESPN for the national tournament. I had some clutch free throws and I did it. I've always been running with that. Now up to this point, Stephen Curry has proved what he needs to to be considered one of the greatest shooters of all time. And with him continuously shooting the lights out year after year, Curry too has shown off a celebration from time to time when he's in the zone. But Steph Curry's feeling it, and he's going off for a record game or just simply hitting some ridiculous three pointers and filling himself heat up. He's been known to dance after certain key moments doing the shimmy. Back in the play house of 2018, Curry struggled shooting in game one and two against the Rockets. But in game three, he came out firing, and he even brought the shimmy when he scored 18 in the third quarter to easily lift the Warriors over the Rockets. He even hit a deep step back three over James Harden, which sent Oracle into a frenzy, and Curry did his celebration. In 2019, after reporters saw him do his shimmy after a crucial shot against the Timberwolves, after the game, Curry spoke about the shimmy and said, there's no criteria. Sometimes I immediately regret it after I do it, but it happens from time to time. It's just me having fun. Just a part of my demeanor. Just bringing joy and the joy in what we do. And it's no doubt that this move has been catchy among other players as well. In the 2018 Western Conference Finals, with the series tied 2-2, and the Rockets down by 3 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Chris Paul dribbled around and hit a crazy 3 over Curry. And at the other end, Chris Paul did the shimmy right back at stuff. And this clip went instantly viral. Afterwards, Curry was asked about CP3 doing a celebration, and Curry said, It was a tough shot. If you can shimmy on somebody, you gotta be alright with getting shimmied on. So I'll keep shimmying, and maybe he will too. Not only is Takimbe Matumbo one of the greatest defenders and blockers in league history, something that made him so well known was his confidence that pretty much no one could get a shot past him. He'd often challenge players to try and dunk on them, and after rejecting anybody that came close in the paint, he'd often do a signature celebration that's still replicated by players today. With Matumbo being one of the best shot blockers in the history of the NBA, the most memorable thing about Takimbe was his finger wag taunt at opposing players after he blocked their shot or stopped them at the rim. Matumbo was asked about how he came up with the finger wag, and he said, Back then, I was shaking my head when I used to block shots. I really didn't have a signature. I had to come up with something from when I was dominating a game. Sean Kemp, who Dikembe said was his favorite player to block, spoke about Matumbo's dominance and the finger wag when he said, Once he started to wag that finger, guys would get caught up and really try and challenge him. He was trying to get them to play his own game, which was getting them to try to attack him to make it easier for him to block shots. Patrick Ewing also talked about Dikembe's finger wag when he said, Whenever someone does the finger wag, nothing comes to mind but Dikembe. A former Hawks guard, Steve Smith, talked about the finger wag saying, The finger wag was at an all-time high in Atlanta. He blocked shots, took away points, and would do it to crowds and players. People hated it on the road. But talking about the finger wag himself, Mutombo finished by saying, Everything became just about the finger wag TV. Everybody that wanted me to do something, wanted me to do it with my finger wag. It's a signature. And when you do it more than 2,000 times, you really have an identity. Now, Marc Gasol might not be one of the most legendary players in NBA history, but he's definitely on an impact on no matter what team he's been a part of. With Marc Gasol playing most of his career with the Grizzlies, but recently helping the Raptors win the finals, he's pulled a couple of celebrations out over the years as he started to develop his shot. And with him becoming a stretch big, a center who could consistently shoot deep twos or threes, he also developed a celebration from a famous UFC fighter. Back in 2016, when Marc was throwing the Grizzlies, he was in a game against the Clippers in LA, and with the Grizzlies down 107 to 106 with 23 seconds left, and after Mike Conley dribbled the ball around, he hit Marc in the corner for a three, which he splashed, and afterwards copied the famous Conor McGregor walk. After the game, Marc tweeted the clip of him hitting the shot and doing the walk with the caption saying, I want to apologize to absolutely nobody. Hashtag grind city. Now even though Dwight Howard's received plenty of criticism over the last few years, many forget that earlier in his career, he was the exact opposite. Dwight was one of the league's most popular and also most dominant players, even being ranked as high as number two in the league by ESPN behind just LeBron James at one point. But with that being said, Dwight's career has been a questionable one, as he's gone from one of the most fierce players to a solid center. And with him playing with multiple organizations, including the Magic, Lakers, Rockets, Hawks, Hornets, Wizards, and now the Lakers again, he still had his fair share of highlights from each segment in his career. Some of the more funny moments, however, cover some of the celebrations and key moments. One was in 2018 when Howard was on the Hornets, and when Michael Carter Williams who was supposed to shoot free throws got ejected, they selected Howard to come off the bench and shoot both technical free throws, which he got a standing ovation for. Howard ended up hitting both free throws and instantly blew a kiss to the Wizards' bench, which just made everyone who saw it laugh a little. The White's been a notoriously bad free throw shooter, but he was obviously just feeling some type of way after this. In a different game, after picking up his fifth foul, Howard walked over to a ref and kissed him on the forehead, which was shocking to everyone in the building, and the ref seemed a little confused. And his time with the Hornets was unique as well. He was even seen throwing out celebrations that no one tried before, and it ended with Howard being fined $35,000 after doing an unacceptable gesture towards fans. Hey dog, what are you doing bro? Click on this video on the screen on your dog. You see this video right on the screen dude? Yeah, it's a fire video bro. Seriously, it's like a solid like 17 out of 10, something like that bro. You know what I'm saying?