So, Nate Robinson has braces

Monday night, good eyes spotted Nate Robinson sitting on the bench with rubber bands inside his mouth:

So we wondered: Does Nate Robinson have braces? Or is he just somehow wearing rubber bands in his mouth, something we can’t quite imagine logistically working, but figure Nate Robinson could figure out how to do if he thought it was cool?

The answer? Nate Robinson has braces, and he is DAMN PROUD OF THEM:

Yup, he’s mean-mugging in them. More rubber bands here :

The Instagram caption: “Getting ur braces tightened ain’t no joke ... But I know my smile will be perfect tho #holdat #teamBraceface #ochogang #8block #4’s”

Nate even took a picture in the orthodontist’s chair, somehow:

We’re not sure why Nate Robinson is getting braces -- he smiled pretty much through the entirety of his first eight years in the NBA, and we never noticed any orthodontic flaw -- but we want to make it clear we’re on board with Nate getting his smile right if he wants to get his smile right. Adults get shamed for getting braces, and that’s a shame, since we should make people feel good about doing things that make them feel like they look good.

However, we want to talk about this for a few reasons.

We don’t say this as an insult, or as a knock on his playing ability. We love Nate Robinson. But his infectious personality, his inability to tone it down, and, yes, his size, make us unable to imagine him being more than 12 years old. Never mind the fact that he is 30 with several kids, one of whom is 10. Guys like Dwight Howard and Brook Lopez are up there, but we think Nate takes the crown for most child-like NBA player.

My orthodontist told me I had to get them when I was younger to prevent the painful process of some new, yet-to-grow-in teeth displacing some existing teeth, so I guess there are medical reasons why this happens. And because people get braces when they’re kids, they don’t need them as adults. And because a lot of people don’t need them as adults, not many adults get them. And because that means the vast majority of people with braces are kids, then it becomes weird for adults to have braces. Again, we think it shouldn’t be weird, but there is a stigma around it.

Get the guy a Big Wheel. Get him a sled so that he can go down the good sledding hill when the snow falls. Somebody take a picture of this dude in the waiting room of his orthodontist’s office, drawing in a coloring book -- WAIT, NO, YOU’RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT: