8 Great NBA Players Who Rocked the Headband

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If we end up getting the NBA back in late July, you might notice a growing fashion and function trend among players. The headband has been slowly making a big comeback among NBA players. Used both for style and for functional requirements like keeping sweat or hair out of your eyes, or generally out of the way, the NBA headband has been worn by some of the league’s best over time.

A study of the 2018-2019 NBA season by FiveThirtyEight last May showed that 16% of 530 NBA players who played at least one minute of NBA action wore a headband during the season. Further, 73 of the 394 (18%) of the players who started at least one game wore the band. We took a look at some of the best NBA players to don the headband. While a lot of guys wear them here and there, we tried to limit the focus to players who were truly known for rocking their headband for most of their career.

Zach Randolph

Zach “Z-Bo” Randolph was a polarizing NBA star. An absolute monster on the offensive side of the game, Randolph could be nearly unstoppable night to night. If he reads this column, it might be the first time anyone told him about playing defense in the NBA, though. Randolph retired after the 2019 season, following a successful but colorful and somewhat troubled NBA career with five teams and making an All-NBA Third Team in 2011. For his career, Z-Bo averaged 16.6 points, 9.1 boards, 1.8 assists with a 19.3 PER and 81 win shares.

Jason Terry

The Jet is the guy I picture when I hear the phrase NBA headband. More than anyone on this list, something about Jason Terry’s persona on the court just tied him to his look. The combo guard played 19 seasons in the league, winning a Sixth Man of the Year award in 2009 and an NBA title with Dallas in 2011. During the playoff run with Dallas, Terry shined, draining a record-tying nine 3-pointers in a Conference Semi-Final game, averaging 18 points per game in the finals and scoring a game-high 27 in the championship clinching game 6. For his career, The Jet averaged 13.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 38% on 3’s, contributing a 16.2 PER and a 102 win shares.

Ben Wallace

The rock of the early 2000s Detroit Pistons and their defense and brute force approach to winning NBA titles. Ben Wallace played the game with passion and fire and was an absolute joy to watch. Did you know he was originally signed as an undrafted free agent? Possibly the best afro-headband combination in the history of the league, Wallace just made the look his own.Wallace played 16 NBA seasons, but his peak came during his years in Detroit. Wallace won the Defensive Player of the Year Award four times in five years between 2002 and 2006, reaching the NBA finals in 2004 and 2005, and winning the 2004 title. The four-time All-Star made three All-NBA Second Teams and two Third Teams, along with five NBA All-Defensive First Teams and a Second Team. For his career, Wallace posted a 15.5 PER and 93.5 win shares.

Carmelo Anthony

Another guy who is more than a bit polarizing and somewhat unfamiliar with defense, Melo was once one of the best pure scorers the NBA has ever seen, and he wore the headband through his entire career. His ability to dominate and create mismatches, combined with his speed and creativity on the floor, made him an absolutely dazzling force on offense. Carmelo is still going, making a comeback earlier this year with the Blazers. To this point he is yet to win an NBA title in his 17-year career despite numerous trips to the playoffs. The 10-time All Star has been named to two All-NBA Second Teams, four Third Teams, the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won the 2013 scoring title. For his career, Melo has averaged 23.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and racked up a 19.9 PER and 102 win shares.

Paul Pierce

The captain and half of the heart and soul of the Boston Celtics of the mid-2000s, “The Truth” was one of the best players the NBA has ever seen in a headband. Pierce not only overcame the odds to make it to the NBA, he overcame a brutal incident in which he was stabbed 11 times in a nightclub fight in 2000, requiring emergency lung surgery. The star would come back in time to start every game for the Celtics that year. The 10-time All-Star won the NBA Championship with the Celtics in 2008 along with the Finals MVP award the same year. Pierce made one All-NBA Second Team and three Third Teams, as well as an NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged 19.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists for his career, with a 19.7 PER and 150 win shares.

Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson took the league by storm in the mid-90s, and for a while some of the NBA old guard and the conservative world of sports media didn’t quite know what to make of him. As fearless behind the mic as he was on the court, A.I. was known for speaking his mind and for his passionate play, as well as his tattoos, cornrows and eventually his headband. Iverson is easily one of the best players to never win an NBA title. The 11-time All-Star won the 2001 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, two All-Star Game MVPs, three All-NBA First Teams, three Second Teams and a Third Team. He won the 1997 Rookie of the Year and was on the All-Rookie First Team, led the league in steals three times and won four scoring titles. Did I mention he was listed at a generous 6-feet and 165 pounds? The enduring image I have of the scrappy diminutive guard is of him driving the lane, somehow ending up nearly horizontal flying through the air, flipping up a layup while drawing the foul and crashing four rows deep into the stands. And he would always get up. For his career, Iverson averaged 26.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists, compiling a 20.9 PER and 99 win shares.

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt the Stilt revolutionized basketball in his time, simply playing the game like no one else. We need a better word than unstoppable to describe Chamberlain, the only player to ever score 100 points in an NBA game. Chamberlain routinely racked up video game scores, setting numerous records that are not only unbreakable, they aren’t even approachable. No one will ever average 50 points per game for an NBA season again. No one is likely to average 22 rebounds. No one is likely to score 100 points or grab 55 rebounds in a single game. The list goes on and on. In his 14 seasons, Chamberlain won the scoring title seven times, the rebounding title 11 times, and led the league in field goal percentage nine times and assists once. The assists year was famously something he just decided he wanted to do after hearing someone comment that he wasn’t a willing passer.

The Stilt averaged at least 30 points with 20 rebounds in seven different seasons, and is the only player to hit those averages for his career. Chamberlain made 13 All-Star teams, won two NBA Championships, four NBA MVPs, seven All-NBA First Teams, three Second Teams, two NBA All-Defensive First Teams and a Rookie of the Year. Wilt rang up a 26.1 PER and a ridiculous 247.3 win shares. He also claims to have done all of this while sleeping with more than 20,000 women in his lifetime. No word on whether the headband was involved in those activities, but it doesn’t seem like he would have even had the time to take it off.

LeBron James?

I thought LeBron was going here. He’s been a bit of an on-and-off headband guy through his career, but bringing it back for his Lakers run had me thinking he’d decided to go down in the books as a headband guy. He’s indisputably one of the best to ever lace up sneakers and he’s looking to add to his already impressive resume of three NBA Championships, three Finals MVPs, four MVPs, 16 All-Star appearances, 12 All-NBA First Teams, two Second Teams and a Third Team, along with five All-Defensive First Teams, and a lot more. But none of that matters because the ultimate standard I was using was if the player appeared in his basketball-reference photo with a headband, which all of these others did. There’s no arguing with this decision…

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