The B Sides: 8 new reasons to love the NBA this week

It has already been a wild first two weeks in the NBA. From Gordon Hayward’s injury to Eric Bledsoe’s trade request via a tweet, the made-for-TV drama is well underway this season.

But what about all of the other stuff we love about the league? What about all the little things that happen on and off the court that make the NBA the beautiful league that it is?

That’s what we’re going to do here each week: celebrate the B Sides of the league. They may have not been the breaking news on your TV, but they were definitely some of your favorite curiosities of the week. The bonuses, the extras, the things that make you really love the NBA. Welcome to the B sides.

Nike is trying to destroy my bank account far too early into its partnership with the NBA. These jackets are so nice. I would take one in any color from any team:

The picture that really sold me though:

Hayward’s awful leg injury is one that makes us all sick to our stomachs. No matter what happens now, this will always be a big moment in his career.

That said, he’s at home with his two beautiful daughters. These pictures melt my heart:

Kyle Kuzma, easily one of the most exciting rookies this season, did the strangest thing on opening night: He inexplicably wore a headband! You won’t be shocked to learn he did not play well in his first ever NBA game while adding a new accessory:

You can’t just throw on a headband and expect everything to remain the same, Kyle. He scored eight points and went 0-of-2 from the three-point line that night. Since ditching the headband, he’s scored 15, 20, and 15 points, respectively.

If anyone ever sees Kyle with the headband on again, inform me immediately because we cannot let this kid fail. It is our duty to keep him headband-free.

Listen, Eric Gordon has been through it. He’s also from Indiana, so I’m extremely partial to him, but this kid deserves so much success. Since arriving in the NBA in 2008, Gordon has missed more than 200 games due to various injuries.

But in the year-plus after signing with the Rockets, it seems like his career finally is falling into place. He also did that offseason trend of losing a ton of weight, which one day I will also partake in (but not this time).

Now, not only is he one of the best three-point shooters in the league, but HE IS DUNKING ON FOOLS TOO:

In Indiana, we call him “EJ.” Can we please bring that back?

It was so refreshing to hear from Roy again who is sadly out of the league. During The Ringer’s NBAPalooza preview extravaganza, Hibbert told an incredible story about Kobe Bryant predicting that Donald Trump would be president:

“We had a game in Washington and Kob’ wasn’t on the bus to go to the arena. He had lunch with Obama and everything like that in D.C.”

First off, of course Kobe is having lunch with the president of the United States prior to a game. But then Kobe went on to lay out what was going to happen in the election:

“He broke down why he thought, with the states, she [Hillary Clinton] needs to visit this place, this place, this place.”

This was all back in the summer of 2016. Apparently Kobe is a genius at everything?

Clarkson has one of the best IG accounts in the league. I need to know what magic filter he is using on these.

My low-key favorite of late, though, was this picture he posted (no filter) wearing an In-N-Out jacket while eating Whataburger. The disrespect:

An old Jayson Tatum tweet resurfaced this week from when he was 14. He was out here asking LeBron to follow him back on Twitter:

LeBron still doesn’t follow him, so we have some work to do to make this happen.

Paul George dropped a smooth 28 points in his debut in OKC — though his transition to a new city has been a bit rocky since. But earlier in the week, he hilariously admitted to a bad pumpkin-carving attempt:

I can’t make too much fun, though. Mine would look worse.

This week’s honor goes to James Harden sprawled out on the floor celebrating Eric Gordon’s game-winner over the 76ers:

That’s all for now. Send me your favorite NBA B-sides, too. Let’s hang and do it again next week.