Many N.B.A. and college players wear thigh pads and chest pads beneath their loose-fitting uniforms, and their numbers have steadily risen. The quaint sport that Dr. James Naismith introduced to pass time in the winter has evolved into a full-contact sport requiring full-time protection.
“In the paint, basketball is very physical,” the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard said. “You’ve got elbows flying, bodies flying, crashing, people fighting for position. I don’t think people see all of that. That’s why a lot of people have been wearing those.”
He pointed to his teammate Mickael Pietrus, who was sliding into a flak jacket before a recent game.
The padding pioneer was Shaquille O’Neal, whose 7-foot-1, 315-pound frame provides ample room for bumps and bruises. O’Neal had worn girdlelike protection for a while, but five seasons ago when he joined the Miami Heat, he consulted with Ron Culp, then the team’s longtime trainer, on how to best nurse a bruised rib while continuing to play.
“When I came in, people thought the best way to stop me was to be physical,” said O’Neal, an 18-year veteran. “It didn’t really hurt. The little knickknack bruises started to addup.”
Culp considered having O’Neal wear a bulletproof vest, but it restricted movement and weighed too much. Culp then approached Kevin O’Neill, the Miami Dolphins’ head trainer.
O’Neal may stand taller, but he weighs about the same as many football players. And after witnessing the contact O’Neal absorbed, Culp said, it was only natural to consult a football team about protection.
“Basketball is the most physical noncontact sport in the world,” Culp said. “There’s a conundrum. You’re putting 10 oversized people in an undersized place and telling them to run as fast as they can and jump as high as they can and to not get hurt while doing it.”
Soon, the Heat’s Dwyane Wade started wearing the padding because he “bounces off of people like he is on a pool table,” Culp said.
O’Neal, now with Phoenix, said, “I’m a trendsetter, baby.”
LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Amar’e Stoudemire are also among those who don padding during games.
The game’s most dynamic players, those who draw the most attention and absorb the most contact, are regular users.
The extra cushioning provided by padded compression shorts and a tight-fitting padded V-neck undershirt goes mostly unnoticed.
But players are convinced that these special undergarments can prevent injury.
“It works,” Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young said as he held a protective shirt. “It depends where you get hit at. You want to protect some of the things in your body, and I’ve gotten elbowed a couple times in my ribs and they tend to be hurting for a while.
“This gives me a little more peace of mind.”
Because of O’Neal and others, McDavid, a manufacturer of protective sports equipment based in Illinois, modified its N.F.L. gear for basketball use. Its HexPad technology involves forming foam composites into hundreds of lightweight hexagonal pads that are bonded into fabric. Unlike most football pads, they do not have to be removed for washing.
The N.B.A. is happy as long as no one sees the extra padding.
“Whether they’re wearing padded or nonpadded compression gear, they can’t be visible while they’re at a standstill, and the compression tanks can’t be visible under the jersey as well,” said Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president for basketball operations.
“The compression items that are issued by the team are from our apparel partner, which is Adidas. They’re cut in a way that are not visible, so if a player chooses to wear another compression item, it must be so it’s not visible.”
But that makes it tougher to market to younger players.
“That’s the hard part of the product, that nobody sees it,” said Rey Corpuz, McDavid’s marketing director, who estimated that basketball padding for all ages could become a $15 million to $20 million business for his company. “It’s designed specifically not to be seen at the N.B.A. level.”
Other companies, including Nike and Under Armour, have also developed protective padding for basketball players.
“We really see this as the new modern-day uniform system,” said Todd Van Horne, a Nike creative director. “You’re not just using the jersey that’s wearing the number on the outside. The players are bigger, they’re stronger. They’re more competitive.”
So are the companies that have entered this burgeoning apparel category. McDavid sued Nike and later Adidas, citing patent infringement, and is seeking to have them cease manufacturing padded undergarments. Neither lawsuit has not been resolved.
Derek Kent, a Nike spokesman, said that the lawsuit lacked factual merit and that Nike filed for its own patent nearly two years ago.
“As an innovation-orientated company for athletes during the last 36 years,” Kent said, “Nike believes that athletes can decide which products provide the greatest performance advantage and that both should be allowed to compete in the marketplace unchanged.”
The popularity of the padded garments for basketball has been a coup for McDavid.
“If you go back into the ’70s, guys are wearing knee pads,” Corpuz said. “Padding isn’t outside of the culture. Our biggest challenge was changing the mind-set of the average basketball player that padding was already there.”
Still, some players bristle at wearing body pads, fearing that they may restrict movement or questioning the need for them in the first place.
“Those guys who use them bang a lot,” the veteran Nets guard Keyon Dooling said. “They get the ball a lot more than me. Over the years, I’ve learned how to avoid being hit by the big guys.”
I think the bulletproof vest is more effective, what do you think? LOL.
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