I used to think basketball wasn’t a true contact sport. Then, in college, a friend took me to sit courtside at a UCLA game (I know, good friend to have). It was my first time seeing a highly competitive basketball game in person so close to the action. And the thing I remember most was the level of physical contact. It was way more physical than I had initially assumed. Watching a bunch of 6 and 7-foot colossal human beings slam into each other close enough to see their wincing faces is a different experience than watching a game on TV.
Contact Sport Without Contact Support
I know a contact sport when I see one. I’ve been an NHL fan my whole life and was an NFL fan for a large part of my childhood. I played 3 years of college lacrosse and I’ve been playing beer league hockey for the past 7 years. So listen when I say that basketball is definitely a contact sport, despite the fact that it is often not treated as such.
I’m relatively new to NBA fandom and never played organized basketball, so I admittedly lack expertise here. And I’m not trying to be prescriptive in terms of what basketball players should or should not be doing. But I’ve got to say, one of the things that puzzles me most when watching games is how many NBA players don’t wear a cup, especially considering how common contact with the [insert euphemism for male genitalia here] region is. I mean, I just don’t get it.
NBA players say they don’t wear cups for the same reason as most other male athletes: “I don’t like how it feels.” Well, that’s exactly why I do wear a cup: it feels a lot better than getting hit in the jewels.
Why Don’t NBA Players Wear a Cup?
Okay, so the more specific argument is that guys feel like wearing a cup restricts their range of movement. This is, of course, especially important when it comes to a sport as athletically demanding as basketball.
But it is also total BS. I’ve been wearing athletic cups my whole life. There’s a lot of intricate lower-body movement in lacrosse and hockey that takes place at high speeds. Agility is a must in both sports. I’ve never once felt restricted by wearing a cup. In fact, I don’t even feel it there at all. You get used to it. Pretty quickly, actually. The way athletic cups are designed today, they’re lightweight, they stay in place when worn properly, and they don’t interfere with movement any more than your actual junk does.
Now, I’m willing to concede that, because I’m not a professional athlete, I don’t notice differences in performance on the margins—in other words, at the pro level, things are so competitive that even very slight edges can make a difference. But if we accept that, we have to apply it to everything else. And you know what does make a noticeable difference when I play sports? Wearing a mouthguard. But most NBA players do wear mouthguards, despite the fact that they are uncomfortable, make it more difficult to communicate audibly, and sometimes make it more difficult to breathe. Again, only marginally, but definitely noticeably. Which would you rather keep: your teeth or your nuts? I’ll give you a moment to mull it over.
But Seriously, Why?
I recognize that NBA players get hit in the mouth much more often than they do in the groin. But, as a hockey player, I think it’s significant to point out that the two least-worn items I see on the ice are mouthguards and face cages. Guys are willing to risk getting hit in the face with a stick, a puck moving at 100 miles per hour, or even a skate blade. But almost everyone wears a cup.
And it’s not like catastrophic cup checks are nonexistent in the NBA. In 2020, Rui Hachimura got hit in the nether region so hard that he needed surgery. Same with Manu Ginobili in 2016. Rare as these incidents are, they do happen and are totally preventable with a cheap piece of equipment that *ahem* does not restrict movement or have any other major downside.
Let’s be clear about the real reason why NBA players don’t wear a cup: some weird sense of pride. It’s simply not cool to wear a cup—it makes you weak or cowardly or whatever. That’s the only reason I can see. And it’s a terrible reason. But I get it, peer pressure and group thinking are powerful forces. Maybe the only way to change things is for the NBA to issue an actual cup mandate for all players. Again, though, I’m not trying to make an argument here for what should or shouldn’t happen.
From one athlete to a group of others, all I’m trying to say is, c’mon guys…just, c’mon. Wear a cup.
