The NBA's Most Outrageous Banned Accessories (And Why They Were Ruled Illegal)

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With the NBA being partnered with and sponsoring so many products, you'd be surprised at just how many they actually have banned. NBA stars like Jimmy Butler, Drew Holliday, D'Aaron Fox, and Montrez Harrell were some of the notable players to wear the ninja-style headbands. Even LeBron James and Russell Westbrook rumored to plan wearing the popular ties next season. The ninja-style headbands' rise to prominence was after Nike became the official apparel provider for the NBA at the beginning of the 2017-18 season. At the start of the 2018-19 season, the league was allowing its players to wear the Nike Court Dry Fit 2.0, made popular by professional tennis players like Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN, The ninja-style headwear is not a part of the NBA uniform and hasn't been through the league approval process. Teams have raised concerns regarding safety and consistency of size, length, and how they are tied, which requires a thorough review before consideration of any rule change. Bass said that players who wore the headwear last season, including Butler, Holladay, Harrell, Carl Anthony Towns, and Jared Allen, were not penalized. Going forward, players will be fined for each game wearing that style headband. Now, other players around the league still wear the classic headband with the NBA logo on the front. In 2010, NBA champion and former Boston Seljick, Rajon Rondo, decided to sport the sanctioned sweatband. However, Rondo wanted to switch it up and wore the headband upside down to differentiate himself from the other players on the team. Unfortunately for Rondo, he was warned by the NBA that he had to wear the headband with the NBA logo facing its proper way or face punishments. Instead of following this warning, Rondo decided to lose the headband. No player has ever flipped the headband since because the league would immediately give out fines. We don't understand what the huge deal is, but the league isn't playing any games.
Plenty of NBA players around the league over the years have had a one-of-a-kind unique style both on and off the court. The many players you see in today's league often showcase their fashion pregame or during interviews. A common trait is a one-of-a-kind jewelry they're able to pull off. We've seen main players like LeBron, Kevin Durant, James Harden, and even Kyrie Irving show off their diamond pieces, and even less significant players in today's league want to shine like the best of them, so players like Lance Stevenson and even Lonzo Ball have even joined in. Now, outside of the court, players have a lot of leniency on what they can wear, but wearing jewelry in games was actually something that was popular early on till it eventually got banned by the league. Wearing gold chains during games stems back to the all-time great pioneers of the game when people like Julius Irving, Darrell Dawkins, and even Michael Jordan actually did this. When people say that in eras past the league was different, they definitely aren't lying seeing as so many rules and new bans have come since then. But Dr. J was one of the first to creatively dunk in the league as well as rocking a gold chain during his NBA games. There's actually a famous picture of him and Larry Bird both reaching for each other's necks, so you can see how dangerous this could have been. But in many instances, Julius rocked it with the nets. Other players like Darrell Dawkins, someone who later became a teammate of Julius, went above and beyond every game wearing multiple long chains with pendants on them that often swung out of his jersey and would fly around hitting other people.
Many people like to credit Dawkins for the main reason why chains were banned because of the excessive amount and how long and ridiculous the jewelry actually was to be wearing in an actual NBA game. Even Michael Jordan wore gold chains around his neck during games at times with the Chicago Bulls, whether he was sitting on the bench or going up for some type of iconic dunk. MJ rocked either one or two chains to add a little extra shine at times, but it was a short-lived fad that he ended up switching after controversy over them being worn in a game. Dozens of players have worn facemask in the NBA over the years.
Rip Hamilton broke his nose in 2003 and wore facemask for the rest of his career, becoming his signature trademark. Clear mask we've seen time and time again, but why does the secret of black mask come out only during rare and unique occasions of legendary players? And why exactly did it get banned from the league? During the 2012 NBA season, Kobe Bryant was still putting up huge numbers with the Los Angeles Lakers. Based off the season, Kobe would acquire another All-Star selection, but this All-Star weekend would stick with him forever. Kobe Bryant took an ugly shot to the face from Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade, but finished out the game before getting evaluated. However, the CT scan, according to ESPN, revealed a nasal fracture. Although Kobe has been diagnosed with a concussion and a fractured nose, he found a way to keep playing at a high level. Kobe has scored over 30 points in three games where he had the mask on. The mask mamba was on a tear, but it didn't matter because the NBA wouldn't let him wear it again. For some reason, whenever Kyrie changes something up, he tends to go off. From his jersey getting naturally untucked to him wearing a mask, Kyrie doesn't disappoint. Throughout his career, Kyrie had two separate injuries that required him to wear a mask. Kyrie was asked about wearing clear masks, and his answer was priceless.