Top 10 Interesting Habits About NBA Players

Most fans only get to see their favourite players as who they are on the court and the occasional news provides some insights into their personal lives. So I decided to go a little deeper into the interesting habits of 10 players that we all love. Hope you find them as interesting as I do.

The San Antonio Spurs’ power forward/center is considered one of the best and most versatile players to ever play the game of basketball. He is also a 4-time NBA champion and 3-time NBA Finals MVP. What you might not know is Timmy here is a knife and sword collector. He owns several historic pieces of them and even owns a real samurai sword.

The 5th year guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers just went in for a tomahawk dunk and you often wonder what the hell he eats that makes him jump so high. The answer might just lie in your very kitchen. Lebron James professed that he loves cereal and among his favorites are Fruity Pebbles, Frosted Flakes and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. P.s. we do advice extra hard training for individuals who wish to jump as high as Lebron does.

The franchise player of the Los Angeles Lakers, a 3-time NBA Champion and the league’s new MVP, Kobe Bryant is one of the most recognized faces in sports worldwide. What you might not know about him is that his name was derived from the famous beef of Kobe, Japan. His parents saw the name on a menu and decided to name him after it. Kobe is considered the best player in the world currently and his moves often draw oohs and ahhs from the Hollywood crowd. He was asked where he got his razzle dazzle and he said he develops new moves in the off-season——– by playing against his shadow. Unbelievable? Kobe has been making us believe his whole career, so why not?

A 2-time league MVP and TIME magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the world, Steve Nash not only gives out mind-boggling assists on the court, he dishes them out off the court as well. You might have heard of his Steve Nash Foundation, how his Steve Nash Youth Basketball League has grown over 10,000 participants and that the charity event he collaborated with Yao Ming raised 2.5 million dollars to help Chinese children in need. In case you think that is all, Steve handed Canadian coach Gus Triano $25,000 to distribute the money evenly among his teammates to cover travel expenses prior to the 2000 Olympics.

NBA players are always surrounded by reporters hounding for an interview or post-game comments after every single game and seldom gets a moment of privacy from their teammates either. To tackle this problem, Kevin Garnett came up with a unique way to create space for himself in the locker room. He fashioned a doormat from athletic tape and pretended there was a door in front of his locker. Visitors therefore had to “knock” on the door before they could talk to him.

Yao Ming, height 2.29cm, is considered one of the perennial centers in the NBA. The Houston Rockets player was already taller than the average 8 year olds by the age of 4 and had to pay full fare while kids of his age rode buses for free. As a devoted student of Chinese history, he is a great admirer of the great military strategist, ZhuGe Liang, who lived from 181 to 234. The walking Great Wall also cited Tony Roma as one of his favourite restaurants in Shanghai.

Dwyane Wade. Not Dwayne Wade. Due to the unusual spelling of his name, SLAM magazine once ran a whole feature on him with his name spelt wrongly as Dwayne Wade. He had appeared on many magazine covers, most notably voted best dressed on GQ magazine and 50 most beautiful people on People magazine. What you might not know about him is for his mother’s birthday in 2008, he bought her a church as a gift. His nifty moves and highlight reel dunks had garnered world’s attention on the court. But don’t count him out of basketball after his career. Wade majored in broadcasting at Marquette University and had voiced interests in becoming an announcer after his career ends.

Jason Kidd has been one of the most efficient point guards throughout his whole career and a triple-double king. He is undefeated on the international stage and is currently leading the USA basketball team in search of another Gold medal at the Beijing Olympics to restore America’s pride. As a kid, his parents banned him from the basketball court whenever his grades went down, never allowing the sport to affect Jason’s academics. In March 2000, he broke his ankle and his wife, Joumana, dared him to colour his hair gold. As a result, he spent the rest of the season as a blonde. What you might not know is he is as good on the golf course, with his handicap somewhere in the single digits.

The dominant center from the Orlando Magic is believed to be the next big thing. His menacing physique had brought up talks about comparisons with the old Shaq, who also started off his career with the Magic. If you did watch the 2008 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, I guess you know what everyone is talking about. If you missed it, catch it here. He is 6′11 and his vertical leap is estimated at almost 40 inches, a rare feat by a big guy weighing 295 pounds. Dwight is also a big fan of professional wrestling. On his off days, he likes to wander around Orlando and that earned him a nickname “CityWalk” by his teammates.

Last but not in the least forgotten, Gilbert Arenas is up next. We saved the most eccentric for last. “Gilbertology”. That was the name coined by the Washington Wizards’ head coach Eddie Jordan for Gilbert’s behaviour on and off the court. Arenas decided to wear 0 in college after people told him he would get zero points as a freshman at Arizona. He admits that he thrives under pressure and criticisms and likes to prove people wrong.

When players first enter the league, they were all treated to some sort of rookie treatment. Gilbert was no exception. When Warriors veterans ordered Arenas to buy doughnut to practice as part of his rookie duties, he turned up bringing plain doughnuts sprinkled with baby powder. The next time he was asked to bring doughnuts, he came with real glazed doughnuts. However, he was excused from rookie duties after his teammates heard that he had thoroughly licked every single one of the doughnuts before giving it to them.

While still with the Warriors, he once took a bath in full uniform at halftime and was rumoured to play online poker at halftimes instead of preparing for the next half. As a free agent, he was to choose between the Washington Wizards or Los Angeles Clippers, with both making similar offers. He flipped a coin and the Clippers came up 8 out of 10 times. Thus, in true GilZero fashion, he went for the Wizards to go “against the odds”.

On January 5th 2007, Gilbert threw a million dollar 25th birthday party which was dubbed the “Arenas Express” and hosted by hip hop mogul P Diddy. Above is a credit card-like invitation card sent out by Arenas, which was the entry ticket to his birthday bash.