LeBron James sported a black mask after suffering a facial injury in February 2014. However, the NBA outlawed it and made him wear a clear one.
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Wearing black face masks automatically raises a player’s cool quotient by a significant degree. Most recently, precocious Croatian youngster Josko Gvardiol donned one through the length of his team’s Football World Cup campaign.
The likes of Martin Demichelis, Heung-min Son and Robert Lewandowski, among others, have also sported black face masks. This phenomenon, however, seems to be restricted to the domain of Association football.
This is not to say that NBA players haven’t donned black face masks. Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving were two prominent players who turned in amazing displays while sporting black face guards.
But nothing seems to surpass the iconic nature of one LeBron James dominating his opposition while wearing a mask that makes him look like a superhero.
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Why did LeBron James wear a face mask?
Powered by an MVP season from Kevin Durant, the OKC Thunder were rolling with a 43-13 record when they took on the 39-14 Miami Heat on February 22, 2014. The top-of-the-table game, however, turned out to be a dampener.
Miami’s Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh collectively put the Thunder to the sword. While Wade had 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting, Chris Bosh also added 24 on just 9 shots from the field.
But it was James who was the clear best player on the floor that night. LeBron turned in a 33-point performance while shooting 15-of-22 from the field. His night was, however, cut short when he collided with a Serge Ibaka elbow as he went up for a dunk.
James returned to the locker room with a broken nose, but he’d dealt body blows to the Thunder’s chances in that game by that point. Miami romped to victory as James sat at his locker with a towel on his face.
LeBron debuted a black face mask, but the NBA banned it
James missed the Heat’s next game – a win over the Chicago Bulls on February 24th. He was ready just in time for their next game against the New York Knicks on the 27th. But he didn’t have a clear face mask for the occasion.
Nonetheless, James pulled off another sublime 31-point performance on 13-of-19 shooting from the field. He looked uber-cool while sporting the black face mask. It prompted Shane Battier to comment:
“Only LeBron can make breaking your nose look cool.”
However, the NBA stepped in and forced James to play with a clear face mask in the games that followed. LeBron appealed the decision, but it wasn’t overturned.
