Why did James throw magnesium powder before the game? Revealing the obsession of NBA players on rosin powder before the game; hand cream

(This article was published on May 21, and the author is ESPN reporter Alex Prewitt. The content of the article does not represent the translator's views.)

Carl Anthony Towns strids on the sideline of the court and heads towards the scoring platform. At this moment, Madison Square Garden is about to usher in the Knicks against the Bucks. The starting list has been announced and the national anthem has been sung. The two teams have just finished the pre-match encirclement and encouraged them. Now only Towns and other starting players are left to complete the final preparations.

At the edge of the scoring table, Towns picked up a shaking bottle with a red label, a hole-hole lid, and he turned the bottle upside down and sprinkled a white rosin powder on the table. He wiped the small pile of powder with his hands, then clasped his hands together and patted them. Then the big man walked onto the court.

Downs jogged away and his teammate Brunson took over. As the team captain, Brunson reached out to pick up a small can of lime green and shaped like an ice hockey. He dipped his index finger in some white hand cream and transferred it to the other palm. He repeated the move, rubbed his hands, and then walked onto the court with Towns.

This season is Towns' 10th NBA season, and he has developed this habit early in his career, and he was inspired by two legendary stars: "I saw LeBron do it, and I saw KG do it, so I want to have my own moments to use powder," he said. This habit eventually became an important part of his pre-match preparation, which was particularly evident when he made his debut for the Knicks on October 7 for the preseason — when he had just moved from the Timberwolves but couldn't find the red bottle on the technical stand.

"I was really angry at that time," said Towns confessing, "almost overturned the scoring station."

Downs would go to the scoring station to apply some rosin powder every time he returned to the court. Sometimes if the rosin powder is used up, he will stop and add some more powder. But most of the time, he just gently pats the existing pile of rosin with his hands as he walks by.

His teammate Brunson was never stingy before he reappeared, and used Towns' rosin cans many times. "Often I use it once when I first play, and then add a little more according to my feelings," he said. The only change since the seven-year veteran started using rosin during his rookie season is the amount of rosin powder he uses.

"Sometimes more, sometimes less, but that's absolutely necessary," Brunson said. "I do it every time."

Before every Lakers game, James, the most famous player in the NBA, would pick up a shaking bottle and sprinkle a ball of dust into the air, which has become the league's most famous opening ceremony. However, throughout the league, players will apply, wipe, spray or apply various skin care products next to the scoreboard before heading to the court.

Use any additional substance that "gifts competitive advantage to the game" on the court is prohibited according to the official NBA rulebook. However, according to the Alliance Memorandum, there are three categories of things that are explicitly allowed: "rosin powder", "chalk or liquid chalk" and "hand cream (for hand care).

It is difficult to know exactly who used what and how often he used it, just like there is no statistics to record the number of times each person deducted every 48 minutes, and there is no indicator to measure the effect of applying. However, all 30 NBA teams have unanimously prepared two products next to the scoreboard: a red bottle of Mueller Rosin Mixed Powder, and a turquoise jar and tube-packed O 'Keeffe 's Working Hands Cream. Most clubs will offer only one form in one game – canned or piped, but at least eight teams offer two at the same time for players to choose from.

In addition to James, those who are known to like to use their hands are the Warriors' Dream Chasing, Spurs' Paul, Nuggets' Westbrook, 76ers' Lowry, Mavericks' Caleb Martin, and Celtics' Jaylen Brown and Holiday. On the black tech tables in the arenas such as Cleveland and Brooklyn, it looks like a graffitied blackboard due to permanent rosin mixture stains. Whenever Brunson habitually jumps on the Knicks’ score station at one end to wait for the game to recover, he must be careful to avoid the hand fans left by Towns.

"I try not to sit on the side with powder because that looks crazy," Brunson said.

It can be speculated that since the Raptors traded to Emmanuel Quickley last season, Toronto's score station has become more "moisturized": the defender tends to squeeze a lot of Working Hands hand cream directly onto the table, just like tourists on the beach applying sunscreen. He is one of many players who use hand cream, including Curry of the Warriors, Mitchell of the Cavaliers, Lillard of the Bucks and Adebayo of the Heat. Similarly, the Hawks' Dyson Daniels grabbed a few hand creams while warming up before going to New York in mid-February. At the same time, in the Timberwolves' training facility, once the teammates saw Conley's basketball become greasy after shooting, they knew that he had just touched the ball.

"Someone would grab the rebound and find the ball was full of hand cream and they would say, 'Oh, it must be Mike who just touched this ball,'" Conley said.

Some NBA players, such as the 76ers' Oubre and the Magic's Pope, even mix powder and cream. “It’s a great combination,” Oubre said. Some players are fond of the third product, Mission Power Grip, a liquid chalk that is packed in a gray tube the size of a travel-packed hand sanitizer bottle. “It’s always something I like,” said Okonggu of the Eagle.

However, most players are still loyal to products using Mueller or O 'Keeffe 's, and sometimes they form opposing camps in the same team.. In Minnesota, for example, Gobert and Jaden McDaniels support powder pie, while Conley and Naz Reed represent cream pie. Hart scoops powder from green jars before every Knicks game, while his teammate Anunobi follows Towns’s approach and slaps the powder pile.

"I tried using Working Hands," said Downs, "It feels good, and I can understand why someone uses it. But it's a little hard to get used to. I've gotten used to using rosin powder on the scoreboard, so I'll keep using which one."

By applying and shaking again and again, this decades-long tradition of side-side skin care has developed into an obsession for the entire league. A missed pass or an out-of-control dribble can cause the team to lose control of the ball, game, and even series. However, in an era of strict scrutiny on everything inside and outside the body, countless players still rely on products common in hardware stores and pharmacies to complete the most important step before they play.

"It's always been an NBA tradition, I think," Oubre said, "You always see people checking in at the technical desk and doing some hand care." How NBA players develop the habit of using anti-slip powder is not clear in the specific details of the process, because there is less historical evidence. According to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the only related artifact in the museum's collection is a bottle of baby powder, which once belonged to the medical kit of former Celtic trainer Ed Lasseter, who worked with the team from 1987 to 2017.

No doubt, before Lasseter first worked on the sidelines on the NBA, players had already started to apply various foreign substances on their hands: some teammates of three-time champion Paul Silas recalled that the late forward used something like sticky cream to help grab rebounds in the 60s and 70s. “If he touches you, it will stick to the hair on your arms,” said Hall of Fame forward Bobby Jones, who played with Silas in the Nuggets. (According to the league memorandum, there are four explicitly prohibited products: Mueller's Stickum, Mueller's Quick Dry Stickam Spray, Cramer's Tuf-Skin Spray, and Cramer's Firm Grip Powder.)

But during his tenure at Lasset, rosin powder began to become a fixed item on the league's score table. The earliest photo on Getty Images is from 1990. The picture shows Jordan jumping over a white shake-bottled Cramer rosin mixture in a game against the Pistons, and Jordan returned to the field after chasing the ball out of bounds.

The sports medicine company, which produces the rosin powder and named after its founder, was founded in 1918 by Kansas brothers Chuck and Frank Kramer, who were later inducted into the National Association of Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame. The company has been the only supplier of the NBA rosin powder market for years, and its bottles even made their debut every year in the All-Star arenas in the late 90s and 00s.

By early 2010, Mission Power Grip was in the field of vision as a new challenger, thanks to the help of NBA All-Star Cameron Anthony to develop, test and promote the grey tubular liquid chalk. “Wounding hands can affect shooting, passing, blocking, and most importantly, your confidence,” Anthony said in a press release at the launch of Power Grip in 2011. "The chalk is dirty, and it's actually just for the game to be played well..."

Working Hands Hand Cream was invented by Oregon pharmacist Tara O'Keefe in 1990. She prepared this formula in her kitchen to alleviate her father's skin problems due to her ranch work. Today, this hand cream is owned by Gorilla Glue and is mainly aimed at farmers, doctors and other professionals who need to work with their hands. One of them is the Nets' brother Cameron Johnson, an employee of the neuroscience laboratory who needs to perform mouse surgery at work.

"When he's dry, he uses Working Hands instead of body lotion so he won't slither," Johnson said. Once, the two brothers were surprised when they each took out a jar of hand cream. “He asked me, ‘Why did you have this?’ I asked him, ‘Why did you have this?’”

As for how this hand cream became standard in the NBA, the answer seems to be word of mouth. Finney Smith only learned about it when he saw a can of hand cream in his bag while playing with Seth Curry in Dallas. Capela of the Hawks and Li Kyle of the Heat also said they were introduced to former teammates Gerald Green (in Phoenix) and Boris Dior (in San Antonio) respectively.

"My dad played so he used this." said the Jazz's Kenyon Martin, the son of former NBA forward Kenyon Martin, who retired in 2015. "He always told me if your hands are dry, use this." The photo archives show that the Thunder were probably one of the first NBA teams to use this green jar, and as early as the 2012-13 season, these green jars appeared on the sidelines. Although further investigations have failed to identify the exact time when the hand cream enters the league, its current dominance is unquestionable.

"Every team is using it," said Grizzlies guard Kennard. "Obviously half of our team are using it, including coaches."

Rookie Okoro faces the challenge of adapting when he first entered the NBA, especially in controlling the game with the ball. When he entered the NBA in 2020, he expected to encounter some common rookie difficulties, such as adapting to the rhythm of professional games. But he did not expect that he would encounter difficulties in the most basic tasks of basketball: when his teammates pass the ball, the ball often slips from his hands. "I really need to adapt to the NBA game ball," he said.

This is a common challenge for newbies who are accustomed to synthetic materials or composite leather balls in NCAA or overseas leagues. )

Of course, the performance elements are only secondary, and the main reason why the players stop in front of the score table is practical considerations. As James emphasized in a recent podcast, “I like to have some rosin powder on my hands so my hands can hold the ball better.” But these products also play a major role in more and more rituals in today’s league.

Some rituals are serious, such as Hardaway, who writes the word "victory" in chalk before each game to remind himself of his ultimate goal. Others are solemn: After Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic died of a heart attack, defender Podjemski began to draw a huge heart-shaped pattern on the scoreboard and wrote Milojevic's acronym (DM) in the middle. Celtics' Holiday also had similar personal information, but he declined to disclose details through a team spokesperson.

Some other rituals seem ridiculous, such as the Warriors' Looney pretends to play the piano in front of a pile of rosin powder before kickoff. Or 76ers Oubre will apply a piece of "working hand cream" to a palm, sprinkle a little powder on the other hand, and mix them together. “It’s just a show for people sitting behind the table,” Aubrey said. “Once, some fans were laughing so hard, as if I was making pizza.” There was an old way for the Bucks’ Big Lopez and Portis to sprinkle some powder on the little dinosaur toys on the scoring table in every game and rub their rosin-stained back for good luck. “Any little advantage helps,” Portis said.

But the most important routine is often to reapply it itself. “It’s a psychological thing for me,” said Reed of the Timberwolves. That's why Kennard would have a brief moment of his mind if he didn't have time to get a spoonful of moisturizer during the game. This is why Towns almost overturned the scoring table when he couldn't find his precious handguard.

"Any basketball player will tell you that the most important thing is to establish a routine," said Towns. "The more you stick to this program, the more you feel like you're getting into the game. Because you've done it many times, it will make your brain mistakenly think you're back to work."

Although moisturizers or chalk can help players' hands, they can also affect players' psychology. “It makes you feel more confident in holding the ball, receiving the pass, shooting, etc.,” Aubrey said. "This is definitely a psychological advantage."

"I'm sure we can not use these things. Or we can spit in our hands. But that's so disgusting."

DeAndre Jordan has been working in the league for a long time. He used the most basic substance in his life - water to solve the problem of hand-drying problems. The veteran with 17 years of experience recalled that when he entered the league early in the 2008-09 season, powder was the first choice for NBA players, and although he "had no idea what that was" at the time, that was before the age of skin cream. Jordan, 36, looked at the scorer's current scorer and couldn't help but wonder whether the Red Bottle was about to be eliminated.

"Many young players use skin creams now," said Jordan, who has turned to Working Hands skin cream. "Rosin powder is more like the choice of the older generation of players." As a veteran with 13 years of experience, Tristan Thompson of the Cavaliers agrees. “The powder was used more at that time,” he said. “I remember one time Lance Stephenson applied too much powder on his hands and could see his handprints when he patted his shorts. But now that’s less. I think the younger generation may not like it or don’t need it anymore.”

While the powder seems unlikely to disappear completely, there are still many players who need dry palms, it’s obvious that the trend of skin care creams is irreversible. Brunson and Hart of the Knicks even signed a sponsorship deal with O'Keeffe 's earlier this season, the first known collaboration between NBA players and on-tech skincare products.

Perhaps better handguard solutions will appear in the future. "We now have more ways to keep warm, keep warm and prepare for the game. This is the general trend, and people are constantly innovating." Or this hand cream will expand to other areas of the basketball world: after a game at the Timberwolves last season, the opponent left a can of hand cream on the bench on the sidelines, and the goal center scorers and timekeepers began to joke that they would also apply a little to optimize their operations.

No matter what the future development is, it is hard to imagine that players will rely more on hand care. “The players are picky,” Conley said, “some people are very dependent on it, they need it.” The Timberwolves’ veteran defender has a say, and the lotion feeling he left at the Minnesota training hall is just an example of his passion for hand cream. He goes to the local CVS or Target store every year to replenish products. In an overtime loss against the Cavaliers away in March 2024, Cleveland is less than 250 miles from the Working Hands factory, Conley was recorded as he headed to the score station 16 times in a 32-minute game time to use the hand cream in a green bottle.

However, he denied that he was too dependent on the ceremony.

"I'm not paranoid," Conley said, "I just like that sense of control."

Original text: Alex Prewitt

Compiled by JayChan