More like head-banned.
Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs was recently informed by the NBA that he can’t wear his headband around his neck — a ritual he started this season.
“Jalen said he got word from the league that the headband has to be on the head at tipoff,” Magic reporter Kendra Douglas said during Orlando’s 121-114 loss to the Bulls in Chicago.
Suggs’ routine had the fifth-year guard begin games with the headband around his neck, then gradually slide it up toward his head.
The 24-year-old told reporters in November that the habit traces back to football — but admitted there wasn’t much more meaning behind it.
“It’s funny, I don’t even know there’s an explanation for it. It’s just me,” Suggs said, per the Orlando Sentinel’s Jason Beede. “I was doing it in training camp when I started playing. Pre-practice before you get going in the warm-up, you just have it on your neck. Really it originates as football drip, that’s where it stems from.
“But I wear it on my neck and once I feel into the game, into the flow, I put it on my head and we rock. So it’s funny to see all the traction it’s gotten, to be honest.
“But yeah, I don’t know, that’s just me being J-Suggs.”
Ironically, Suggs wasn’t wearing the headband around his neck in November when Knicks guard Josh Hart accidentally grabbed him by the throat in a 133-121 win against New York.
Injuries, however, continue to be the bigger storyline.
Suggs suffered a Grade 1 MCL sprain in Friday’s loss to Chicago — his first game after the league’s headband ruling — and will be sidelined indefinitely, the team announced.
He had just returned from a left-hip contusion that cost him seven games, and he played in just 35 contests last season after undergoing surgery on his left knee.
Through 23 games this season, Suggs is averaging 15.0 points and 4.7 assists for the Magic, who sit seventh in the Eastern Conference at 19-16.
