When you think about stickum, you are far more likely to hear it associated with a wide receiver in football. Even Jerry Rice once admitted to dabbling in using it. It is a bit more uncommon to hear about it being used in basketball. But in sports, you never know what you are going to see on a day-to-day or night-to-night basis. Such was the case last night in Atlanta where Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard was caught using Stickum spray on his hands.
“I’ve never felt the ball like that ever,” Atlanta’s Paul Millsap said after the game, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was sticky. It was like super glue or something was on there. I couldn’t get it off my hands. It was the weirdest thing ever.”
After inspecting the basketball, NBA refs gave each bench a warning to inform them the use of Stickum is illegal in the NBA. No penalty was enforced at the time, but the league office is reviewing the situation.
Some obvious questions pop up from this. First, how many times has Howard used Stickum in the past, because what are the odds this is the first time he has done so?
Said he uses it every night openly and has five years. And I do see him spray it on his hands every game. https://t.co/ZeUZp2zGYc
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) March 20, 2016
Oh, OK. Well that settles that one. Alright, that’s interesting. I’ll move on…
Second, how many other NBA players are, or have been using, Stickum to keep their hand son the basketball? Howard cannot possibly be the only player to try it, right?
