As someone who has never gotten a bold haircut, I can envy those who have the guts to do something new and different and fun and free. But I don't envy Iman Shumpert. Because and NBA rule forced him to shave off his bold hair choice.
And despite that being public knowledge, many other players ran up against the very same rule! Lonzo Ball, pay attention! J.R. Smith pay attention! ...to a few things...
"Please enjoy Joe Ali and I analyzing Rule H.5: The only article bearing a commercial ‘logo’ which can be worn by players is their shoes."
Hosted and produced by Clara Morris and Joe Ali Edited by Jiazhen Zhang and Ryan Simmons
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00:00Joe, have you ever done anything bold with your hair?
00:04Any bold hair choices in your life?
00:06Yeah, I have actually.
00:07In eighth grade, me and my friend got colored mohawks.
00:10Whoa.
00:10From our school.
00:11Whoa, that is very bold.
00:13For the football team?
00:13Yeah.
00:14Is it like for a pep rally kind of thing?
00:15Pep rally, yep, exactly.
00:16You got it.
00:16Nice.
00:17Very cool.
00:18Wow, Joe.
00:19You're so cool.
00:21So it doesn't sound like you have any regrets with that bold hair move.
00:25So it was me and a friend, so we both looked kind of stupid.
00:29That's a nice level of security there.
00:31Exactly, yeah.
00:32I have a security blanket with me.
00:33Right, right.
00:34Well, I bring it up and I ask because I wanted to talk about a time when an NBA player made a bold hair move
00:40and I think ended up regretting it because of an NBA rule, which is, let's see, section H, number five,
00:49the only article bearing a commercial logo which can be worn by players is their shoes.
00:55And while hair and heads are not exactly articles to me, I mean, I'm not a lawyer, that counted as a non-shoe logo.
01:04So Iman Shumpert, an Adidas athlete, got the Adidas logo shaved in his head for fun.
01:10He likes doing fun hair stuff.
01:11This was one of the things he did.
01:12Adidas did not tell him to do this.
01:14No, no, he was like, hey, we're friends, I like your shoes and your clothes and you like me.
01:20You pay me.
01:21Yeah, you pay me, that's a strong friendship.
01:25And then because of this rule, the NBA was like, you can't do that.
01:28So he shaved out the Adidas part and just had a bald triangle in his hair, which we can see here.
01:36Wow.
01:37Yeah.
01:37Okay.
01:38Straight triangle.
01:39Yeah, this is actually not as bad as I thought it was.
01:42Still very bad, but I thought it was going to be a lot worse.
01:46I thought it was going to be definitely like the middle of the head.
01:48But since it's off to the side.
01:50Yeah, side back.
01:51Yeah, I wonder if like why he didn't just like knock out that whole suit.
01:55Yeah.
01:57But yeah.
01:58Certainly a choice.
01:59I guess he could be like, well, triangle's still cool.
02:01Yeah, yeah.
02:01Who doesn't like triangles?
02:03Fun shape.
02:05Roof.
02:05The pyramids, you know, maybe he's a big ancient Egypt guy.
02:08That's true.
02:09Or he could become one.
02:10Right.
02:11Yeah, it's an opportunity.
02:12Channeling the interferral energy.
02:14Yeah, yeah.
02:15It seems a little bit weird, you know, that an NBA would have that sort of agency over your hair, your butt.
02:23Body, yeah, yeah.
02:24You get it there, you know, it's a Nike league.
02:26Well, it can't advertise Adidas all the time, I guess.
02:29So, you would think that this would be like enough of an incident that players would be like, oh, that's the rule, let's stop doing that sort of thing.
02:37But a lot of players have come up against this rule for things more permanent than hair.
02:41What I'm talking about is tattoos.
02:43Okay.
02:43So, Lonzo Ball in 2018 had the Big Baller brand tattoo.
02:49The BBB?
02:50Yep.
02:50And the league was like, you have to cover that up or do something.
02:54He had it turned into a pair of dice, kind of.
02:59So, they're cool with gambling, but.
03:02Yeah, right.
03:03But not self-promotion.
03:04Or you could be playing any other game, you know.
03:06Yeah, that's true.
03:06Dungeons and Dragons.
03:07Right.
03:08So, we have a picture of that.
03:09I mean, it's impressive that they could change the letters into.
03:13That's actually not bad.
03:14Yeah, yeah.
03:15You could change the dice.
03:15If it was originally, like, can I have some dice and it looked like that, you'd be like, oh, that's nice.
03:21You let someone new to the tattoo field draw dice.
03:24Also, couldn't he have just worn a shooting sleeve?
03:27Yeah, I think for a while he would, like, put a Band-Aid on it and stuff.
03:30I don't know.
03:31Maybe he wanted to, like.
03:32Look, I'm not Lonzo, okay?
03:33Yeah.
03:33Yeah.
03:34Not my decision.
03:36Not my decision.
03:37Yeah.
03:37I wonder, like, what the regret level is.
03:39To go back under the needle.
03:42So, I have a few tattoos.
03:43Not as many as just looking at Lonzo.
03:48I feel like this is enough tats where he's just like, eh, whatever.
03:52Yeah, because I don't really know him as, like, a gambler or a board game player.
03:56It's like, I don't know, is dice a thing?
03:59Yeah, I guess he didn't hear about Iman Shumpert's bald patch.
04:02Or he either did or didn't care.
04:04Oh, yeah, didn't care.
04:05Daring the NBA.
04:06Daring the NBA.
04:07It's more advertising for my brand.
04:09They're making this controversy.
04:10Because it's also a thing of, like, you know, Adidas is a very well-established brand.
04:14Right.
04:14Maybe he's, like, you know, a big lower brand.
04:16It's up and coming.
04:17It's guerrilla marketing here.
04:18We can get away with this one.
04:20Because here I am talking about it.
04:21Right.
04:21Then, let's see, we've got another example of this rule being violated.
04:28This is J.R. Smith's leg here.
04:30I remember this one.
04:31Yeah.
04:32I do remember this one, yeah.
04:33He doesn't have an affiliation with them.
04:35Yeah, yeah, no.
04:36He just likes it.
04:36Which is wild to me.
04:37Yeah.
04:37That's just...
04:38I don't really like to wear, like, clothes with a lot of brand.
04:41Right.
04:42I'm showing.
04:42Let alone get a full tattoo.
04:45Yeah.
04:45Well, I guess it is literally in the exact Supreme logo.
04:48But I wonder if he was just like, no, it's just like, my homies call me Supreme.
04:51You know, just a Supreme Hooper.
04:53Yeah.
04:53Or something like that.
04:54Trying to get away with it.
04:55But no, that is 100% the Supreme.
04:57It's like how they...
04:58Yeah, the Supreme logo, for sure.
05:01And it's interesting you bring up that he could argue his way out of it.
05:05Because, first of all, J.R. Smith was, like, super pissed that the league made him cover it up.
05:10He was like, this only happens to me.
05:11I'm the bad boy.
05:13Here it is.
05:14And he kind of had a point.
05:16Because, like, remember Carmelo Anthony has, like, WB?
05:19Yeah, yeah.
05:19And nobody ever had a problem with that.
05:22Like the Warner Brothers.
05:23It's like the Warner Brothers, yeah.
05:24He said it was for West Baltimore.
05:26So he's like, looks exactly like it.
05:28But it's not something else.
05:28But it also looks exactly like the WB logo.
05:32I think Lonzo's brother, La...
05:36Oh, man, I forgot which one I'm calling it.
05:37LaMelo, right?
05:38Yeah, LaMelo.
05:38Yeah, because he's got his own brand.
05:40Yeah, he has his own brand.
05:41Ted's like, on this, like, soft part.
05:43Yeah, because I remember...
05:44Because when you said the Band-Aid thing, that actually...
05:47When we were talking about Lonzo, they reminded me of LaMelo.
05:48Because I remember he would have just, like, a weirdly placed Band-Aid, like, right here.
05:53Yeah, he was covering up.
05:55He had LF.
05:56I guess it's, like, a street wear?
05:58Lifestyle brand?
05:59I don't really know what that means.
06:00Clothes?
06:00Yeah.
06:03Yeah, for his middle name is La France, and...
06:07Wait, his name...
06:08So his name...
06:08I'm sorry.
06:09This is...
06:09It's tricky.
06:10This is probably derailing it.
06:11But his name is LaMelo La France.
06:13LaMelo La France Ball.
06:15Yes, yes.
06:16That is a name where you're destined to do something, right?
06:19Yeah, you're not going to be an accountant.
06:20Yeah, you're not going to have a boring job.
06:22Yeah, no, you have to do something with that name.
06:24Yeah.
06:24It's a career made for entertaining.
06:27Yeah, it's an entertainer's name.
06:30You can't, like, you can't be a teacher.
06:31You can't do something that's going to go by your last name with a first name, like, first
06:35middle combo like that.
06:36Right, yeah.
06:36You have people call you Mr. Ball all the time.
06:38Mm-hmm.
06:39No, teaching is out.
06:41At first, I think it's interesting that he put a logo on himself after his own brother
06:46had to cover up his.
06:48That's also a very LaMelo move, though.
06:50Yeah.
06:50I feel like, yeah.
06:51That's true.
06:52These youth.
06:52Yeah, my God.
06:55So young.
06:56So when he first got it, the NBA was like, that is an obvious violation of the rule.
07:01But then, like, later they're like, it's fine.
07:03He doesn't have to cover it up anymore.
07:05So J.R. Smith is just a bad guy, huh?
07:07Yeah.
07:07He could argue, like, it's also my middle name, right?
07:10Yeah.
07:10So it's my own initials.
07:12Mm-hmm.
07:12Just happened to have my clothes brand.
07:14Okay, in post, fix that if street wear doesn't mean clothes.
07:18It does.
07:19You're good.
07:19Okay, okay, okay.
07:20Cool, cool, cool, cool.
07:21So do you know if Adidas paid Iman Shumpert?
07:25Because I know you said he was an Adidas athlete.
07:27Yeah, yeah.
07:28So I guess he's technically getting paid.
07:30But they were like, hey, for more exposure.
07:32Right.
07:32No, no.
07:33This was his own.
07:34He was like, I like you guys.
07:35I like you guys a lot.
07:38I'm going to do a little extra.
07:39I guess that's like a husband getting his wife's name tattooed or something.
07:44Oh, yeah, yeah.
07:45You know?
07:46It's like, I love you for life.
07:47He's like, Adidas for life.
07:49Yeah, yeah.
07:49I guess it's just hair, so it's not as serious.
07:52Not as serious.
07:53It's like the first commitment.
07:55You know, he's like, if you guys like the hair, maybe tattoo me next, maybe.
07:59Don't drop me.
08:00Don't drop me.
08:02You could argue that it's weird that they have control over players' bodies and hair.
08:06But it's also like a protection in place to keep brands from being like, tattooed is on you and give you money, which is weird.
08:14Okay, so maybe this is a weird rabbit hole to go down.
08:18So Iman Shumpert was an Adidas athlete, right?
08:21But the league was upset because they were a Nike brand.
08:24They wouldn't go so far as to say that.
08:26Okay.
08:27But that's a conclusion many people drew.
08:29Because I was going to say, what if someone else has got a Nike thing tattooed in their hair?
08:34Oh, yeah. That's actually etched in their hair.
08:36Would that be a problem, too, as well?
08:38I think not.
08:40Because, you know, Marcin Gortat?
08:42Yeah.
08:43He has a Jumpman tattoo.
08:45Okay.
08:46Like the Jordan Jumpman?
08:47Yeah, yeah.
08:47And nobody has ever made him cover it up.
08:50So he was a Reebok athlete.
08:51He's not affiliated with Nike.
08:52Yeah.
08:53And Reebok asked him to cover it up.
08:55And he said no.
08:55He literally was like, some people don't know my name, but they know me as the guy with the Jumpman tattoo.
09:00That's hilarious.
09:01Oh, my God.
09:02So I can't cover it up.
09:03I can't cover it up.
09:05You see the back of my jersey all the time?
09:07They just know me as the Jumpman tattoo guy.
09:10But, yeah, people bring that one up.
09:12They're like, I think J.R. Smith was one of the ones he brought up of being like, I'm being singled out.
09:16What about the guy with the Jumpman tattoo?
09:17He doesn't know his name either.
09:19A bit corporate-inspired there, huh?
09:21I guess the big lesson is if you're going to put a corporate logo on yourself, I don't want to call people a sellout who like doing that.
09:33If they like doing it, they like doing it.
09:35But it seems like embrace the sellout caveat and go with a Nike one.
09:42Right.
09:42And then you don't have to put a Band-Aid over it or get it redrawn into awkward dice.
09:48Until the NBA changes rights holders.
09:50That's true.
09:50That would be tricky.
09:51That would be tricky.
09:53Is there any brand you like that much?
09:55If you had to get a brand tattooed.
09:58OnlyFans?
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