Jalen Suggs’ “neck headband” era may have been one of the season’s most harmless pieces of NBA weirdness; a little pregame superstition, a little fashion flourish, a little “I’m just different” energy from an Orlando Magic guard who’s never been shy about personality.
But the league has apparently had enough.
The NBA has ruled that Suggs must wear his headband on his head, not around his neck like a choker, to begin games.
If you’ve watched Orlando regularly this year, you’ve seen the routine: Suggs comes out with the band sitting low around his neck for the opening stretch, then slides it up to his forehead once he’s “in the flow.” It’s become distinctive enough that it turned into its own mini storyline, the kind of small broadcast detail that lives online because it’s instantly recognizable and slightly absurd in the best way.
When asked earlier this season why he does it, Suggs didn’t pretend it was some deep ritual. He basically shrugged at the idea of a grand explanation.
“It’s funny. I don’t even know if there’s an explanation for it,” Suggs told Orlando Sentinel beat reporter Jason Beede. “Really, it originates as ‘football drip’—that’s where it stems from. But I don’t know, there really isn’t much else to it. I wear it on my neck, and once I get into the game, into the flow, I put it on my head and we rock.”
The league’s reasoning hasn’t been publicly laid out in a long memo, but the likely logic is simple: once a headband is worn around the neck, it stops being “headwear” and starts looking like neckwear, and the NBA is strict about anything that can be deemed unsafe or outside approved equipment. The official NBA rules explicitly instruct officials not to permit players to participate “with any type of jewelry,” and not to allow equipment they judge to be dangerous.
So even if Suggs’ headband is soft fabric and the whole thing is mostly vibes, the league appears to be treating the placement as the issue: wear it as intended, or don’t wear it during live play.
It’s a small crackdown in the grand scheme of NBA life, but it’s also a reminder of how the league works: there’s always room for individuality, until it bumps into the rulebook. And now, Suggs’ “football drip” is going to have to stay where the word “headband” says it belongs.
