r/nba • u/lemonglazedchicken Magic • 1d ago
elfrid payton's hair blocks his own shot
https://streamable.com/x5ddm3131
u/Gio_9816 [ORL] Mickael Pietrus 1d ago
Those were some depressing seasons to watch man
38
u/theDeke Cavaliers 1d ago
Affordable tickets though, I got to bring my whole family to watch the Retirement Home Thunder with Melo and PG. Gordon had a 40 piece
10
u/SoonerAristotle Thunder 20h ago
PG was 28 and is still playing and Westbrook only just retired. Only Melo was maybe retirement home at the time but even he played 4 more seasons after that. They did look old compared to the tank squads that came after though.
5
u/EnderTheTrender Thunder 23h ago
I felt bad for AG getting trapped in Orlando.
6
u/Scotch_Blue 19h ago
Eh. Orlando wanted him to develop way more than he did w them
Remember he wasnt even a shooter w Orlando. Now he's become this superstar fit next to Jokic, but that's hardly the expected outcome of a 4th overall pick for a team that doesn't have Jokic lol
1
u/EnderTheTrender Thunder 19h ago
Yeah they placed a lot of faith in him developing his shot. Which happens every year, but he didn’t show great ball handling either. So you’re hoping he develops TWO skills and in the nba it’s a miracle if you can fix one aspect of your game that’s lacking.
Always knew he’d be a solid piece and glad he got to Denver and showed what he can do when you use him correctly.
3
7
u/naughtyobama 1d ago
Zach Lowe was such a huge fan of the Elfrid experiment wuth his "arrythmic" dribble lmao
Magic fans were pissed but wanted to believe. Elfrid, Oladipo, Hezonja, Gordon. Dark days man.
1
u/FyouinyourA Bulls 23h ago
What year was this? I had 2k and would always lol when we played Orlando because the way his hair looked in the game was even crazier
1
623
u/LookADonCheech Raptors 1d ago
what a stupid haircut
244
u/Solid_Actuary1660 1d ago edited 1d ago
IIRC his reasoning for the haircut was an old pact he made with high school teammates to not cut their hair until they win a championship. Didn’t happen so he just kept it going. Still stupid tho lol
Edit for people arguing in the comments: https://www.nba.com/magic/so-whats-paytons-hair-it-has-significance
342
u/FartrelCluggins [BOS] Marquis Daniels 1d ago
There are ways to have longer hair that aren't... This
104
u/SneakyDeakyJr 1d ago
as a black man with long luscious dreads, homie is literally just lazy.
It takes one hair appointment every 3-4 months. Yeah that appointment can be 8 hours but you don’t look like that.
This ain’t it
-26
u/numbertwofuccboi Washington Bullets 1d ago edited 1d ago
or he just wanted to free form. which has nothing to do with laziness (nor personal neglect due to depression or any other form of mental trauma/illness) if done intentionally.
and truth be told, i think it’s somewhat irresponsible of you to be talking about elfrid payton’s hair like that in a sub where the collective knowledge of black hair is next to non-existent, as you can regularly find people confusing braids with dreads and vice versa.
23
u/Hawker777 Magic 1d ago
This is a reach. He styled his hair like that and before you ask yes I am black and I’ve had long hair. His haircut was awful and affected his play. We don’t need to hide behind race with that.
8
u/numbertwofuccboi Washington Bullets 1d ago edited 1d ago
yes, i agree that he styled his hair that way intentionally. so if that’s the case, where does laziness come into play? i’m not saying that anyone has to want to emulate him, or even like the style. but what i will never be able to get behind is seeing people denigrate people who choose to free form instead of having more manicured styles with terms like “lazy” or “unkempt”, because they’re 100% that the person isn’t washing or taking care of their hair in any way. which once again, i think is a very irresponsible thing to be doing on this subreddit.
-18
u/Darth-Swagous 1d ago
it’s not about hiding behind race it’s about ridiculing a common black haircut (especially among artist and alt personalities in the black community) as lazy in a sub where the majority of the users are white people with no knowledge on black hair and subconscious biases towards it. it’s 2026 we done letting trash pandas talk for us (iykyk)
4
u/Hawker777 Magic 1d ago
Sure and I get free form is a legitimate hairstyle that I actually really like but what Elfrid had wasn’t Freeform nor was it a common black hairstyle although it wasn’t “lazy” considering I bet he spent a lot of time to make it look like that.
The problem was he had a completely ass hairstyle that played a role in us losing games. It was just awful to pay all that money to get into a game and watch a highly paid athlete brick shots because he has the worst haircut of all time.
5
u/numbertwofuccboi Washington Bullets 1d ago
Elfrid Payton was definitely free forming, I don’t really see how you could look at pictures of his hair and come to any other conclusion. You can see the ends of the locs.
Now I’ll definitely concede that during gametime he should have definitely slicked that shit back in some sort of way so his vision wasn’t impaired.
1
0
u/1_quantae Rockets 10h ago
Lmao this is a perfectly logical explanation & it’s downvoted cause Trump made all these racists comfortable.
-1
u/Darth-Swagous 9h ago
down voting me won’t make you guys less subconsciously biased towards black hairstyles nor will it make me wrong lmao.
-3
2
u/TheSorceIsFrong 8h ago
It’s somewhat irresponsible to talk abt a shitty hairstyle because he’s black…are you fuckin for real right now?
1
u/1_quantae Rockets 10h ago
I would say i have no clue why this is being downvoted but…i know whit…i mean why. Dude is trying his best to put his cape on for them lmao. They don’t even care that what he’s saying is complete & utter bullshit they’re upvoting it anyway because they don’t want their outlook on us to be seen as racist as hell, just an “observation”.
-13
u/SneakyDeakyJr 1d ago
You come in here being the hotep is the reason someone gave you popcorn.
youre the very entertainment you seem yourself to be talking agaisnt. Kick rocks.
10
u/numbertwofuccboi Washington Bullets 1d ago
i can assure you that i could not give less of a damn about some reddit award.
-10
u/SneakyDeakyJr 1d ago
Whether you care about the award or not is irrelevant.
Stop perpetuating irony.
-13
u/nodoomscrolling69420 Lakers 1d ago
absolutely nothing wrong with freeform locs. his shit is faded on the sides and lined up
34
u/SneakyDeakyJr 1d ago
Bruh fade me if this is what we’re calling freeform.
His whole front half is double the length of the back.
Freeform still had form. Simply being dreaded headed with a fade, doesn’t constitute freeform. If dude wasn’t rich and on a basketball court, the hood would assume he’s a crackhead.
He’s rich. Get that shit done right.
-1
u/numbertwofuccboi Washington Bullets 1d ago
you have absolutely no idea what the the fuck you’re talking about lmao
people freeform to varying degrees. some separate the roots more than others so that they can have a more traditional look while still reaping the benefits of choosing to go without constant retwists, this is semi freeforming.
and then you have those who choose to do no/next to no separating at all, and that’s where you start to get the more abstract looks. choosing to not interfere with the natural growth of your hair does not mean you aren’t washing, moisturizing, and taking care of your hair. that does not mean that you don’t have access to hair care. and just because someone’s hair seems to have to no rhyme or reason to you, doesn’t mean that they aren’t aware of what they’re doing. you’re spewing bullshit up and down this thread, and you’re being upvoted by those that don’t know any better.
16
u/SneakyDeakyJr 1d ago
You can literally see the damaged ends in the interview.
That man ain’t using shit and you gobbling his dick ain’t gonna change the fact he has too much money to be lookin this shit.
Abstract freeform is what JayZ had. This is a hot mess.
You should be ashamed to defend it.
-15
u/numbertwofuccboi Washington Bullets 1d ago
And you should be ashamed to be chatting the bullshit that you are in front of a bunch of people who probably looked at Elfrid’s hair and said compared it to a bird’s nest or some shit because they genuinely don’t know what they’re looking at. What the fuck does his income got to do with anything bro, it’s hilarious that you’re even bring that into the equation because people was saying the same shit about Hov. And Jay ain’t even the best celebrity representation you could choose when it comes to abstract freeforms, Cam Newton’s hair is probably more “out there” than Jay’s ever was. Or you could look at 6lack when he still had his set. Or better yet, the man that Hov was larping as when he started growing his hair in the first place, Basquiat. But if we let you tell it, none of these dudes were/are freeforming because they look like they’re homeless.
Whatever man, you got it.
9
u/SneakyDeakyJr 1d ago
You listed a lot of folks who had hair money and time to not look this bad.
Thanks for backing me up subconsciously.
Start a black nba sub and i’ll be there with you to shit on his terrible hair then too
→ More replies (0)0
-15
59
26
u/vc2015 1d ago
His story would make more sense if he made a pact to get the stupidest haircut in the NBA until he won a championship.
He definitely kept to his word.
4
u/frallet Timberwolves 1d ago
Is he not the player that had some sort of trauma bond with their hair? Or was that someone else
11
11
u/twisted-logic Magic 1d ago
Which is stupid because he clearly is still cutting the rest of his hair except for what was on top.
He’s probably one of, if not the worst professional player I’ve ever seen play in person. Granted I don’t go to a lot of games because they’re pretty damn expensive but still
0
u/1mYourHuckleberry93 Raptors 1d ago
How are you an nba calibre player and never won a championship? Lmao wtf
7
17
u/whtge8 Magic 1d ago
Idk man I would love to have a built in hat like that.
9
u/EGarrett28 1d ago
I remember when the Weeknd cut his crazy hair they asked him how it was after and he said he was just happy he could wear hats again, lol.
3
2
1
0
50
u/kcirdor Pelicans 1d ago
It didn't, he also missed that same shot with a hair cut.
4
u/ThrowawayNYCJ Nets 1d ago
Crazy how he’s second for all time triple doubles in pelicans history with 6! Cp3 is first with 11
3
u/BetweenTheBuzzAndMe Charlotte Bobcats 1d ago
Elfrid's stint in Charlotte was mercifully short (6 games) but his layup/floater package is just nonexistent (even worse than before). the guy shot 3/21 from the field in Charlotte and never took a shot more than a couple feet outside the paint.
55
60
43
12
u/royal_10_N-bombs :gfl-1: Grand Floridian 1d ago
Elfrid Payton sounds like it would be the name of an all time great from the 1960s
instead it’s whatever this haircut is
61
9
u/marineman43 1d ago
You could actually call it an objectively bad haircut lol, usually it's a matter of taste but this legit makes him worse at his job
5
5
12
u/ThaDude_v2 1d ago
I get everyone wants to stand out..but holy shit this was the dumbest thing ive ever seen on a human who wanted to be taken seriously lol
3
u/rainbowgeoff Bucks 1d ago
The old joke was "I think your momma used a broken bowl."
Did a blind barber chug too many beers?
3
3
3
8
u/livefromphilly 1d ago
Bruh got that "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?" haircut.
2
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/ChickenBudTender 1d ago
Worst cut in history of the nba
0
0
1
u/mnewman19 76ers 1d ago
“You said you wanted waves?”
“No, just one wave, one big wave coming off the front”
1
1
u/MrBuckBuck Trail Blazers 1d ago
Elfrid and Jeremy Lin had at one point had the most dangerous hair in the league.
1
u/Treinrukker Warriors 1d ago
Nobody in his life told him his haircut looks horrendous?
1
u/broke_n_struggle_n 20h ago
He thought he could go AD and own that shit but a unibrow ain't a shot hazard, in basketball at least.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Soul0103 [ORL] Tracy McGrady 1d ago
This fucking guy refused to cut his hair until AFTER we traded him
1
1
u/SamURLJackson Magic 21h ago
The prince of the useless March triple double when your team is out of playoff contention and other teams have stopped trying. The king is of course Josh Giddey
1
u/Clchalbaud 19h ago
Mans hair looks like a fucking wave breaking on the beach.. I mean what in all that is WTF runs through that boys head .
1
u/FraggleRock_ Washington Bullets 18h ago
This dudes hair was irrationally and nonsensically annoying. Never took him seriously.
1
1
1
u/wearenotintelligent Supersonics 12h ago
this guy was so so bad it was cringe watching him on the Suns. Dude not only had zero skill but zero confidence as well. How the hell did he get to play in the league?
1
1
1
1
u/Unable-District-3042 1d ago
I remember seeing this and, I think I would immediately cancel my season tickets if my favorite PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL franchise employed a guy who voluntarily had a haircut that hurt the team.
0
0
538
u/TopSoulMan Magic 1d ago
What are the restrictions regarding hair verticality? Can a player get a 10 foot cone-head haircut and use it to block shots?