One Hundread

It was Tuesday, February 3rd, and approaching midnight here in the CST. The Blazers' home game against the Phoenix Suns wasn't over yet because it was one of those NBC/Peacock specials with the later start. I wasn't real happy, as the Blazers were in the process of blowing a game that had begun so well. Long gone was the 19-point lead they held in the 1st quarter, built largely thanks to a smoking hot start that saw them put 26 points on the board in the first 6 minutes. Also gone was their 72-67 halftime lead. Now the Suns led 93-89, and it was anybody's game.

Jerami Grant subbed in for Portland with 1:52 remaining in the 3rd, replacing Toumani Camara - which went unnoticed by me at the moment. But as I looked closer over the next few moments there was something I most definitely did notice. And I was like, "Wait a minute; what is this?" And then as I kept on watching and made sure it wasn't a mirage it hit me. "This is the first time. It has to be." The first time what, you ask?

Well, already on the floor in Blazers uniforms when Grant checked into the game were C Robert Williams, F Sidy Cissoko, and Gs Jrue Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe. So I called it right then: the first time ever in NBA history that a team had 5 players with dreads on the court at the same time. Wow. Undoubtedly 5 players with dreads on the court for one team had happened before on some college teams somewhere; but never before in the NBA.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a photo of the momentous occasion. The closest to it shows four players with dreads watching Collin Gillespie score an easy layup (photo above) to put Phoenix up 98-92. That's Williams (#35), Holiday (#5), and Cissoko in the lane, and Sharpe out by the free throw line. Grant is out of the shot, standing about 10 feet behind Williams. 

For proof I can only offer a blurry screenshot from the Suns' preceding possession (below), in which Grant, the defender closest to the basket, is included.

Unfortunately Grant, Williams, Sharpe, Cissoko, and Holiday did nothing to stop the Suns' momentum during the 1:37 they were on the court together. The Suns were still up 4 when Camara subbed in for Sharpe with 17 seconds to play in the quarter. And the Suns led the rest of the way, hitting 20 of 41 from 3-point range and leading by as many as 12 in the 4th before settling for the 130-125 road victory.

Seeing the five players with dreads on the same team got me thinking about how so much has changed in the 18 years since I first started this blog. Remember 2008? Back then dreadlocks were growing (pun intended) in popularity in football but were almost non-existent in basketball. Never did I think we'd ever get to this point. But there was the undeniable proof right there on my TV.

So, what's next? Well, how about all the players on both teams with dreads on the court at the same time? Believe it or not, it could have (but didn't) happened during the 2025-26 season. While checking back to confirm that the game on Feb. 3 was for sure the first time for 5 teammates with dreads playing together I didn't need to check anything from previous seasons. 2025-26 was definitely the first season that any team had as many as 5 players with dreads on their roster. In addition to the Blazers, who had 6 (see Matisse Thybulle (#4) on the court in the Blazers' game at Memphis on March 4 in the photo at the beginning of the post) the Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies also had at least 5. You can see the Grizzlies' 5 (and a couple players with braids too) in their team photo (below) on Jan. 16 in front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, ahead of their game vs. Orlando two days later.

Upon looking at all of the summaries of the games played by the Pistons, Grizzlies, and Blazers prior to Feb. 3 I could not find any instances with 5 teammates with dreads on the court together. There were several times with 4, but never 5. So unless my research was sloppy (go ahead, I dare you to find it, lol) Feb. 3 was definitely the first time. 

It's a far cry since the first post I ever did on the NBA. That was around the start of the 2011-12 season (I think), which began on Christmas due to a lockout. I was so excited because there actually was a team that had as many as three players with dreads! The Denver Nuggets started that season with Nene, DeMarre Carroll, and a rookie by the name of Kenneth Faried on their roster. And they accounted for nearly half the players with dreads in the whole league. Yeah, that team was an outlier alright. Back then and for several seasons after that you had to look far and wide to see any dreads at NBA games not involving the Nuggets. But things change as time keeps moving on; and one of those changes has been that dreadlocks have become a normal, everyday sight - even in the NBA.  

About the title? Well, that is an intentional misspelling. I was hoping by now we'd be celebrating the Blazers' having become the first team ever to have one hundred points scored by players with dreads in the same game. But unfortunately they came up a bit short. Their season high was 87 points in their 136-131 home win over the Warriors on Dec. 14, when Grant and Sharpe both scored 35, Williams had 11 and Cissoko 6. No doubt if Holiday had been in uniform for the game they would've hit 100.

So, I guess we'll settle for celebrating 100 points by players with dreads on both teams. That happened for the first time when, not surprisingly, the Blazers played the Pistons on Dec. 5. 105 points were scored by players with dreads in Detroit's 122-116 home victory. Grant had 29, Sharpe 28, and Williams and Cissoko 8 each for a total of 73 for Portland; while 4 Pistons with dreads came off the bench to combine for 32 points, with Ronald Holland (before he became an ex-dread) scoring 17, Isaiah Stewart 9, Daniss Jenkins 4, and Jaden Ivey 2.

One hundread by both teams likely happened a couple more times during the season. I'm going to go ahead and let you find those occasions yourself, if you're that interested, because I'm not going to take the time to.

It is often difficult to tell the difference between a player who has his dreads reduced and one who just has braids or twists. But after spending all summer looking at NBA photos I decided on a final total of 71 players with dreads who played at least one game in the Association in 2025-26. And 64 who were on rosters at the end of the regular season. (Actually that total might have been higher, but there are a couple of guys I didn't include because I'm not totally convinced their hair is locked. We'll see about welcoming them to the house next season.)

Did you want to know who they are? Yeah, I thought so. So here they are. Players in ALL CAPS were on their team's roster at the end of the season. The others played at least one game with the team before being released, traded, or otherwise gotten rid of. Stats were obtained via the Basketball Reference website, so it's their fault if they're inaccurate (and my fault for not double checking). The stats are for the 2025-26 regular season only unless otherwise noted.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

ATLANTIC DIVISION

BOSTON CELTICS  

  

   Total team points: 9418

   Total points by players with dreads: 44

          AMARI WILLIAMS 30

          Charles Bassey 14

   Percentage of team's points scored by players with dreads: 0.5% (NBA rank: 27th)

And we begin, of course, with a player you can hardly tell has dreads. Amari Williams' locs are so short and so close together that they're difficult to see, even from the expensive seats. You need close-up shots like these to see them clearly. Hopefully he'll be around long enough that we'll be able to see them get longer. After being drafted in the 2nd round Williams started his season on a 2-way contract but got upgraded to a regular contract (doubling his pay) in early February. In the left photo Williams and teammate Jaylen Brown take on the elbows of Pistons F Isaiah Stewart on Nov. 26. On the right the 6-11 F/C grabs a rebound vs. the Hawks on Jan. 28.

.

Bassey was with the Celtics for 8 games, playing in 5, before not being re-signed after his second 10-day contract expired near the end of March.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BROOKLYN NETS

   Points: 8686

   Points by players with dreads: 2647

          NIC CLAXTON 810

          NOAH CLOWNEY 809

          ZIAIRE WILLIAMS 573

          TERANCE MANN 455

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 

          30.5% (rank: 2nd)

For sure a lousy team that was trying to lose on purpose to improve their draft position. But if you wanted to see dreads there weren't many better places to be than Nets games. 4 players with dreads on the team, all playing significant roles. All four are on the court in the photo above, watching Giannis Antetokounmpo drive to the basket in Milwaukee on Nov. 29.

I don't remember exactly why 6-11 C Nic Claxton said he cut off the first edition of his dreads back at the end of the 2021-22 season. But I do remember him not being happy about it. So it was no surprise he immediately began growing his hair back, and now 4 years later the dreads are back and getting longer - at full blast on Feb. 22 in the photo on the left and reduced on Jan. 23 (right photo) as he works against Celtics C Neemias Queta. Claxton ties Amari Williams and Myles Turner for the league's tallest player with dreads. His 810 points were the most on the team by a player with dreads, but that's only because he played in 3 more games than Noah Clowney .....

At 6-10, 210 pounds F Noah Clowney is almost a carbon copy of Claxton - one inch shorter and 5 pounds lighter. But fans didn't have any problem telling them apart, not with Clowney having his dreads dyed blonde. Disappointingly Noah had his dreads reduced for most of the season; but for a couple of weeks very early in the season he had them going full blast and looking spectacular - driving to the basket against Charlotte (left photo) on Dec. 1 and defending against Paul George (right photo) on Nov. 28, both games in Brooklyn. Clowney just turned 22 years old and has improved in each of his last two seasons after not playing much as a rookie. So he could be on his way to becoming a very good player.

Terance Mann's dreads have come a long way in his 7 NBA seasons and are now at a spectacular length - on the nights he has them going at full blast, that is. That includes the games on Mar. 5 (right photo), as he defends a shot by Tyler Herro of the Heat, and Mar. 7 (left photo), as he decides whether to drive, pass, or shoot vs. the Pistons. In his 1st season in a Nets uniform Mann, a 6-6, 215-pound G, shot a career low 45.7% from the field, which probably is more a reflection of the quality of his teammates than anything else. 

 

Ziaire Williams didn't convert his hair into dreads until the 2023-24 season. It was either twists or braids before that for his first two NBA seasons, when he was with the Grizzlies. And on the few occasions he had them going completely at full blast, his dreads were outstanding, as you can see here as he handles the ball against the Cavaliers on Mar. 1 (left photo) and gets faked into the air by Knicks G Jalen Brunson (right photo) on Mar. 20. Ziaire, a 6-9, 185-pound F, is one of 4 players with dreads in the league named Williams. In his 2nd season with the Nets he averaged career highs in points (10.2) and steals (1.4).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK KNICKS

   Points: 9549

   Points by players with dreads: 9

          DILLON JONES 9

          Tosan Evbuomwan 0

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 0.1% (rank: 29th)

Unlike the Thunder's championship in 2024-2025 there weren't any meaningful contributions by players with dreads on the 2025-26 champs. If not for the Suns, the Knicks would have finished last in total points by players with dreads.

Dillon Jones, 6-5, 240-pound F, drives to the basket (left photo) during garbage time of the Knicks' 49-pound slaughter of the 76ers on Feb. 11, the game in which he scored a season high 4 of his 9 total points. On Apr. 12 (left photo) Jones tries to get a handle on the ball while keeping Hornets G LaMelo Ball at bay. 

After starting the season with the Blazers' G-league affiliate, Dillon signed a 2-way contract with the Knicks halfway through the season. He played 18 games for the Knicks' G-league team along with a total of 39 minutes over 7 games for New York. Jones' claim to fame so far is one that nobody else can make: he has been on the league champion in each of his first 2 NBA seasons, as he played 54 games for the Thunder in 2024-25. Unfortunately there's a rumor going around that Dillon was seen in this year's Summer League with his dreads all cut off.

.

Tosan Evbuomwan did not score in his 5 games for the Knicks before ending the season on the roster of the Hornets.

Star F OG Anunoby every now and then puts his hair into baby dreads. But it appears he's not serious about committing to dreads long term, and he's not welcome in the house until he does.

Pacome Dadiet, who played in 29 games, looks like he has dreads. He started with 2-strand twists two years ago, and I'm not convinced his hair ever locked up. I'll take another look next season.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

   Points: 9502

   Points by players with dreads: 278

          JABARI WALKER 276

          Charles Bassey 2

   Percentage of points by players with dreads: 2.9% (rank: 21st)

It would not be right if I didn't include at least one photo of F Jabari Walker with his dreads reduced, because way more often than not that's the way they were in 2025-26 - and often even more reduced than they were on Mar. 3 (right photo) for the 76ers' home game vs. the Spurs. With his dreads at full blast on Feb. 19 (left photo) Walker lets out a yell after assisting on a dunk by F Adem Bona late in the 3rd quarter that capped a quick 7-0 run and forced the Hawks to take a timeout. Walker, 6-7 and 237 pounds, was with the Blazers for his first 3 NBA seasons before joining the Sixers in 2025-26 on a 2-way contract that got upgraded to a regular deal. He averaged 4.3 points in about 12 minutes per game.

.
Bassey was with the 76ers for 3 weeks but played in only 1 game before he wasn't re-signed after his 2nd 10-day contract expired in mid-February.

Star C Joel Embiid, as you probably saw, had his hair in short dreads for a lot of games. But then after a while he would untwist them and go back to normal hair. Same as with OG Anunoby I'm not welcoming Embiid to the house unless he's going to be serious and letting his hair lock together (which I don't expect will be ever).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TORONTO RAPTORS

   Points: 9400

   Points by players with dreads: 545

          COLLIN MURRAY-BOYLES 484

          JONATHAN MOGBO 61

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 5.8% (rank: 18th)

  

The 9th player picked overall in the 2025 Draft, F Collin Murray-Boyles lived up to expectations, as he was named to the NBA All-Rookie 2nd team. It seemed close to 50-50 for the number of games his dreads were reduced or not. They were seriously reduced on Nov. 2 (left photo) as he throws down a dunk against the Grizzlies. On the right is a look at his dreads full blast during the Raptors' road game vs. the Clippers. CMB, 6-7 and 245 pounds, shot 57.9% from the field during the regular season and then 65.6% in Toronto's 4-3 series loss to the Cavaliers in the 1st round of the playoffs. Raptors fans (and I'm one) have a lot to be excited about as we watch his career, hopefully with him still having dreads, in seasons ahead.

Murray-Boyles' arrival was Jonathan Mogbo's loss. The 1st pick in the 2nd round in 2024, Mogbo played 1,000 less minutes in 2025-26 than he did as a rookie, playing only 40 games after playing in 63, including 18 starts, as a rookie. Jonathan's preferred presentation of his dreads is to have them reduced on top and all out at the ends. To each his own. In the left photo Mogbo plays keep away from LeBron James at Toronto on Dec. 4. And on the right Mogbo and teammate Sandro Mamukelashvili block a layup by Celtics G Payton Pritchard midway through the 1st quarter on Jan. 9 at Boston. Mamukelashvili got credit for the block. Mogbo will not be back for a 3rd season with the Raptors, as he has signed with Sacramento for next season.

And that brings us to Immanuel Quickley. I never thought we'd be interested in him - not after he spent his first 4 NBA seasons - mostly with the Knicks - with his hair braided and/or in two-strand twists. But since being traded to the Raptors as the calendar turned to 2024 there's some evidence he might be considering a move to dreads. In the Raptors' 4th game of the season on Oct. 27 (left photo) he has the familiar braids. But there were several stretches throughout the season that he went with dreads, including when the Raptors won at Oklahoma City on Jan. 25 (right photo). So far he has kept switching back and forth and not allowed his temporary dreads to lock together and become real dreads. We'll see if he ever does in the future.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOUTHEAST DIVISION 

ATLANTA HAWKS 

   Points: 9714

   Points by players with dreads: 197    

          KEATON WALLACE 186

          KESHON GILBERT 11

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 2.0% (rank: 23rd)

After making his NBA debut in 2024-25, 6-3, 185-pound G Keaton Wallace played his 1st full NBA season last season after having his 2-way contract upgraded just before the season began - although there were a lot of games he just sat on the bench. On Jan. 9 (right photo) we got the chance to see his dreads at full blast, as he defends against Tim Hardaway Jr. at Denver.  But in most of the photos you see of him the dreads are reduced, as they were on Nov. 23 (left photo) as he tries to bother Hornets F Miles Bridges on his shot. Keaton has a younger brother in the NBA, Cason Wallace; and yes, he has very long dreads too, as we'll see a little later.

Hopefully not, but we might not see Keaton in the NBA again. He'll be playing in the EuroLeague next season after signing for 2 years with a team in Israel. It'll be a chance for him to get regular playing time and be a star as well as to make more money than he was here sitting on the bench in the NBA.

No shortage on the length of the dreads on the Hawks' other player with dreads either - although for most of the season he wasn't with the Hawks. 6-4, 200-pound rookie G Keshon Gilbert was in the G-League all season until being signed by the Wizards for 10 days in February. He played 28 minutes in his debut on Feb. 7 (left photo, as he guards Danny Wolf of the Nets) because the Wizards were down 4 starters for the game. After 3 games with the Wizards it was back to the G-League ..... until the Hawks signed him to a 2-way contract in early March. He then played entirely for the Hawks' G-League affiliate until playing with the Hawks on the final day of the season (right photo). Hopefully in the seasons ahead the quality of his game will match the quality of his dreads.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHARLOTTE HORNETS

   Points: 9513

   Points by players with dreads: 441

          SION JAMES 441

          TOSAN EVBUOMWAN - DNP

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 4.6% (rank: 19th)  

2nd round draft pick Sion James, a 6-5, 220-pound G, was the only player on the team to play all 82 games during his rookie season. He attempted 100 more 3-point shots than 2-pointers, which partially explains his overall 37.1 FG%. Most of his games were with his dreads reduced, including on Feb. 19 (left photo), where he tries to distract Kevin Durant as he shoots. With his dreads full blast on Apr. 2 (right photo), Sion takes advantage of sloppy ballhandling by Suns G Collin Gillespie, getting a steal and then dribbling three fourths the length of the court and going in for an easy slam dunk late in the 1st quarter. I had never heard of James and was surprised to find out he played his senior year at Duke. That shows you how much I haven't been paying attention to College Basketball for the past few seasons. 

You won't find any photos of Tosan Evbuomwan wearing a Hornets uniform, because he didn't actually play any games for them even though he was on their roster (on a 2-way contract) for the last 2 months of the season. He began the season with the Knicks on a 2-way deal and ending up playing the bulk of his season in the G-League .... including 9 games with Maine (the Celtics' affiliate, left photo) in January in between his time with the Knicks and Hornets. On the right Evbuomwan, in a Greensboro Swarm uniform, defends a shot against Stockton in the G-League finals on Apr. 10. The Swarm swept the best-of-3 series, and Tosan was named finals MVP. 

May be we'll see these dreads in the NBA someday; but it probably won't be next season, since he'll be playing in the 2026-27 EuroLeague after signing with Barcelona.

.

Antonio Reeves had what looks like reduced dreads during his 10 games with the Hornets. But I haven't welcomed him to the house yet. In college he started with 2-strand twists, and in his first two NBA seasons I have not been able to find any photos of him to convince me he ever let his hair lock together. Until I have that evidence we can only continue to wonder if he really has dreads or not. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MIAMI HEAT

   Points: 9911

   Points by players with dreads: 25

          JAHMIR YOUNG 25

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 0.3% (rank:28th)

The Heat were a dreadless team in 2025-26 except for the 14 games played by Jahmir Young. These two photos of the 6-0, 185-pound G are from very early in the season, as he tries to score his first points of the season on Oct. 24 (left photo) but has his layup blocked by G John Konchar late in the 4th quarter at Memphis. 4 days later (right photo) he defends G Tre Mann at some point of his 2:44 on the court during the Heat's blowout win over the Hornets. This was the only photo I could find where his dreads were not reduced. Young spent the majority of the season in South Dakota, where he averaged a team-leading 26.0 points and 8.8 assists in 25 games for the G-League's Sioux Falls Skyforce. With numbers like that it's no surprise he was on the team of G-League players participating in the Rising Stars Game during the NBA's All-Star weekend.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORLANDO MAGIC

   Points: 9491

   Points by players with dreads: 922

          WENDELL CARTER 922

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 9.7% (rank: 12th)

I have to apologize because Wendell Carter is a much better player than shown in these shots. But of all the photos I saved these were the ones with the best look at his dreads. Most of the time Carter has his dreads reduced; but there are a few, including these two, where they are not. Late in the 1st quarter on Nov. 20 (left photo) Carter has his dunk attempt snuffed by F John Collins of the Clippers. And in Game 1 of the playoffs on Apr. 19 (right photo) Wendell, after forcing Ausar Thompson to miss a driving layup during the 2nd quarter, can only watch helplessly as C Jalen Duren gets the rebound and slams home the putback.

Wendell got his dreads started in time for the beginning of the 2022-23 season, his 2nd full season with the Magic after being traded in March 2021 by the Bulls, who drafted him at age 19 with the 7th overall pick in the 2018 Draft. If you go by his numbers Carter, a 6-10, 270-pound C, didn't have his best season in 2025-26. But I wouldn't say he did or didn't because I saw only a couple of his games all season. He did play a career high 78 games and started all of them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

   Points: 9258

   Points by players with dreads: 1870

          TRE JOHNSON 733

          BILAL COULIBALY 657

          JAMIR WATKINS 368

          LEAKY BLACK 106

          Keshon Gilbert 6

          D'ANGELO RUSSELL - DNP

   Percentage scored by players with dreads:

          20.2% (rank: 7th)

Just like the Nets, the Wizards were a bad team, but with a lot of players with dreads. But before you even think about trying to make a connection, do realize that there were several good teams with a lot of dreads too. 5 players with dreads appeared for the Wizards in 2025-26 (or was it 6?), including Jamir Watkins beating Tre Johnson to a rebound (photo above) of a missed 3-pointer by the Cavaliers on Nov. 7. 

It was a pleasant surprise to see Bilal Coulibaly gets his dreads started in 2025-26 after having his hair in braids the previous season. The 6-7, 195-pound G/F is seen here handling the ball during the Wizards' game at Portland (right photo) on Mar. 29 and unintentionally posing during a break in play (left photo) so that the photographer can get an excellent view of his dreads during a home game vs. the Kings on Feb. 1.

Born and raised in the suburbs of Paris (France, that is), Coulibaly has now been in the NBA for 3 seasons after being the 7th overall pick in the 2023 Draft. So far he has shown he's not a good 3-point shooter (although he likes to shoot a lot of 3's) and that he's about a 50% shooter on 2-pointers. He's still only 22 years old, so there's still plenty of time to improve on what has been a disappointing start to his career. 

Tre Johnson, 6-5, 190-pound G, was the team's best player with dreads during his rookie season after being the 6th overall pick in the Draft last year. At age 19 he played 60 games, starting 42, and averaged 12.2 PPG in 24 minutes per game. Free throw shooting was excellent - 87.4% - on his few trips to the line.

Except for about a 6-week stretch in December and early January when he had his dreads reduced, for almost every other game Johnson had his dreads in these much better-looking pigtails, as shown in these two photos from Wizards home games, as he shoots against Bruce Brown (left photo) on Jan. 22 and celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer (right photo) vs. the Blazers on Jan. 27. 

The same as Tre Johnson did Jamir Watkins did too, showing up in the NBA with dreads in his own distinctive style, and even added some color to them during the second half of the season ...... until he went with reduced dreads and a headband for about 3 weeks toward the end of the season. I like the style shown here much better, as he tries to bother LeBron James on Jan. 30 (left photo) and dribbles during a home game vs. Miami (right photo) on Apr.10. Drafted in the 2nd round, the 6-6, 210-pound G started the season on a 2-way contract but spent the vast majority of his rookie season with the Wizards and eventually got upgraded to a regular contract. In 50 games he averaged 7.4 points and shot 46% from the field in about 20 minutes per game.

His real first name is Rechon but has been known by his nickname throughout his entire career. Leaky Black plays some hands-on defense against C Derik Queen of the Pelicans (left photo) on Mar. 8 and handles the ball vs. the Blazers (right photo) on Mar. 29. Black was in the G-League all season until the Wizards signed him to a 10-day contract on Feb. 21. And during the last couple of weeks of the season he suddenly found himself in the starting lineup. The 6-6, 209-pound F ending up playing 29 minutes per game during his 15 games with Washington, averaging 7.1 points and 5.0 rebounds. His only previous NBA games were the 26 games he played for the Hornets in 2023-24.

Although Leaky seems serious about wanting dreads, he has not yet shown that he wants to grow them long. The dreads he has now are barely any longer than they were when he was in college and nowhere near as long as you'd expect them to be after 5 years. What's up with that, Leaky?

No, I do not have D'Angelo Russell in the wrong place. Or maybe I do. Technically Russell was on the Wizards' roster when the season ended, but he never played for them (and I think he never even joined the team) after being traded by the Mavericks with 2 months to go in the season. The Wizards didn't want there to be any chance of him messing up their plan to finish with the worst record in the league; so they told him to just stay away. I'm sure he still got paid. 

D'Angelo got his dreads started during his 2nd season in the league, which was way back in 2016-17. He let them get longer over the next couple of seasons; but ever since they got long it seems likes he's gone out of his way to make you think he doesn't have dreads. Either he's had them reduced, or folded into a bun, or both. Unless you've been sitting up close there have many many games where it's been difficult to tell if he really does have dreads and very few games to see them clearly.

These two photos are from early in the season, when he was the only player with dreads to score any points for the Mavericks (more on that later) - standing during a break in play on Nov. 3 at Houston (left photo) and looking to either pass or drive against Kentavius Caldwell-Pope (right photo) at Memphis on Nov. 7.

 

And that brings us to possibly the 6th player with dreads for the Wizards - 6-0, 176-pound G Sharife Cooper, who in his 5th pro season looks like has found a home in the NBA. He played 13 games for the Hawks during his 2021-22 rookie season before spending the next 3 seasons either in the G-League or in Europe. The Wizards signed him to a 2-way contract for 2025-26, and he became an every-game reserve over the 2nd half of the season.

It certainly looks like those are dreads on his head - as he has a close encounter with Tyrese Maxey (right photo) in Philadelphia on Apr. 1 and as he shakes hands with a teammate (left photo) on Feb. 1. But when I look up close it looks like his locs haven't fully locked up yet. So I will wait until next season to decide if I should welcome him to the house. 

.

Wizards starting C Alex Sarr is another player who might have dreads. One thing we know for sure is that he had braids in 2024-25. And the other thing we know is that if he indeed converted to dreads last season, he didn't want anyone to know, because he had them reduced every minute of every game, so it was impossible to tell for sure. Maybe next season he'll give us a look.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CENTRAL DIVISION

CHICAGO BULLS

   Points: 9537

   Points by players with dreads: 739

          Ayo Dosunmu 677

          Jaden Ivey 46

          MOUHAMADOU GUEYE 16

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 7.7% (rank: 13th) 

There were three players with dreads in a Bulls uniform last season - but never more than one at any time. Mouhamadou Gueye was the only one on the team when the season ended, and he was only on the team at the end, appearing in the final 2 games of the season after spending the entire season with the Windy City Bulls in the G-League before that. Gueye, a 6-9, 210-pound F defends against Mavericks C Moussa Cisse (left photo) on Apr. 12 at Dallas and attempts a 3-pointer (right photo) with the Bulls down 116-86 late in the 3rd quarter of the same game. He missed, but did score a career high 11 points in the game. 

Gueye - not to be confused with Mouhamed Gueye of the Hawks - has yet to taste victory in an NBA game. The Bulls were 0-2 in the 2 games he played, and the Raptors went 0-11 in his only other NBA appearances in 2023-24. Very good length on his dreads, but it doesn't look like the 28-year old will become a legitimate contributor on an NBA team. Hope I'm wrong, but at this point it doesn't look like it.

After being traded by the Pistons to the Bulls at the trade deadline, 6-3, 195-pound G Jaden Ivey scored in double figures in all 4 games he played for the Bulls, including on Feb. 9 (left photo), as he blocks a layup attempted by G Ben Saraf of the Nets, and Feb. 11 (right photo) as he stares down G Payton Pritchard of the Celtics. But then after the All-Star break he didn't play at all as he dealt with pain in his left knee. And then things got interesting. After being inactive for about 5 weeks Ivey decided he had higher priorities than basketball, made some remarks he knew would get him released, and could hardly have been surprised when the Bulls, in fact, did release him. Guess he got tired of signing those $421,000 checks every payday. Actually he probably doesn't need them anymore, having earned nearly $33 million on his 4-year rookie contract.

Jaden's dreads were just starting to get long after he immediately started growing his hair back after cutting off the 1st edition of his dreads following his rookie season in the spring/summer of 2023.

People always get second choices; but I'd be surprised if Ivey ever plays in the NBA again.

.

 

It was indeed heartbreaking for me - as well as probably a lot of other Bulls fans - when team management (which got fired during the final week of the season) included Ayo Dosunmu in their purge of their most talented players at the trade deadline. In his 5th NBA season Dosunmu, a Chicago native, had upped his game - most notably improving his 3-point percentage from 36.1% in his first 4 years to 45.1% in 2025-26 and his scoring from 10.2 to 15.0 PPG. He was becoming a star right before our eyes. And that was the problem. He was too good to keep. At the time of the purge management decided in was in the team's best interest to improve their draft position as much as possible - i.e. lose as many games as possible - and having Ayo on the team wasn't going to be helping that. So he was off to Minnesota. At least the Bulls' plan worked, as they moved up to the 4th pick in the Draft after finishing with the 9th worst record.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS 

   Points: 9801

   Points by players with dreads: 717

          Darius Garland 467

          KEON ELLIS 241

          Chris Livingston 9

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 7.3% (rank: 15th)  

I have been a huge Keon Ellis fan going back to when he played his final two college seasons for Alabama. And when he averaged 12.1 PPG during his senior year (2021-22) with the Crimson Tide I had no idea he was good enough to one day be playing in the NBA. But here he is, with his distinctive dread tips brown on one side and black on the other. After playing his first season and a half on a two-way contract with the Kings, Ellis worked his way up to a regular contract ever since. In the left photo Keon, a 6-4, 175-pound G, dribbles the ball upcourt against the Thunder (left photo) on Oct. 28. Then on Mar. 17, after being traded to the Cavaliers just before the trade deadline, Ellis and Max Strus try to knock the ball away from Ousmane Dieng (right photo) at Milwaukee on Mar. 17. Strus was charged with the foul. 

Although these photos show Ellis with his dreads at full blast, more often than not last season he kept them reduced, which was a bit disappointing. The trade to Cleveland meant Keon got to play in the first playoff games of his career, although he played only 7 minutes per game in the playoffs after averaging 25 during his 29 regular season games with the Cavs.

After being underpaid for 4 seasons, Ellis finally has signed his first "big" contract. He'll be earning $9 million next season with the Nets, nearly $4 million more than his combined career earnings to this point.

6-6, 220-pound F Chris Livingston has spent his first 3 pro seasons going back-and-forth between the G-League and the NBA - although last season was spent almost entirely in the G-League. He was with the Bucks for 2 seasons before signing a 2-way deal with the Cavaliers last season. He appeared in only 3 games with the Cavs a week either side of Thanksgiving. On Nov. 24 Livingston hits a short shot over Immanuel Quickley (left photo) to cut the Raptors' lead to 97-88 in the 4th quarter at Toronto. And on Dec. 5 he sets to launch a 3-pointer (which he missed, right photo) during the last minute of the Cavs' win over the Spurs. After being released by the Cavs on Jan. 27, Livingston starred in the G-League, averaging 20 PPG for the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards affiliate.

.

After playing 6 seasons for the Cavaliers, including two of which he played in the All-Star Game, Darius Garland's 7th season was his last in Cleveland, as he was traded to the Clippers at the trade deadline, with the Cavaliers believing their playoff chances would be better with James Harden on the team than him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DETROIT PISTONS 

   Points: 9657

   Points by players with dreads: 2190

          DANISS JENKINS 671                      

          ISAIAH STEWART 581

          RONALD HOLLAND 560

          Jaden Ivey 270

          CHAZ LANIER 80

          Bobi Klintman 22

          ISAAC JONES 6

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 

          22.7% (rank: 4th)

With having 7 players with dreads score during 2025-26, the Pistons tied the Grizzlies for the league lead. But by the end of the season they were down to just 4. 

After being picked 16th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft (which didn't take place until November due to the pandemic) Isaiah Stewart was traded twice before landing with Detroit, where he has played all 380 of his NBA games (including the playoffs). Stewart is 6-8, 250 pounds and isn't shy about throwing his weight around. Very good at blocking shots despite being "only" 6-8. He has drawn 5 suspensions so far throughout his career, including one for an incident where he punched an opposing player before a game and even before he got to the locker room. 

We first saw Isaiah in Part 1 of Dread Gallery #178 in shots of a game from his rookie season. He kept his dreads "normal" for 4 seasons before permanently reducing them all the way down to wicks for the start of the 2024-25 season. In the opening game of the 2025-26 season he defends against Nikola Vucevic (left photo) at Chicago on Oct. 22. Then on Mar. 10 (right photo) he tries to dribble past Danny Wolf of the Nets.   

Stewart's time in Detroit is now over, as he was traded to the Grizzlies for next season.

Where did this guy come from? A lot of Pistons fans were probably asking the same question too about Daniss Jenkins, the 6-4, 165-pound G in his 2nd season. After not being drafted in 2024 Jenkins signed a 2-way contract but spent almost all of his rookie season in the G-League, as he played in only 7 games (for a total of 23 minutes) and scored only 7 points for the Pistons. But after the Pistons brought him back on another 2-way deal for 2025-26 he decided he was ready for the big time, and all 72 games he played were with the Pistons - none in the G-League - forcing them to upgrade him to a regular contract. He turned into a valuable contributor, averaging 3.9 assists (2nd best of the team) and 9.3 points and scoring 20+ points 7 times. Jenkins, as he often does, drives to the basket (left photo) against the Pacers on Nov. 17 and harasses Nolan Traore of the Nets (right photo) on Mar. 7.

As you can see Daniss would get a lot of votes for having the longest dreads in the league; and it's really embarrassing to me to have never seen nor heard of a player with dreads like this until seeing him for the first time on some highlights show. I'm usually good at keeping track of the players with really long dreads. He played for 3 different college teams, including St. John's as a senior, but I completely missed him. 

Now that he's established in the NBA it's now only a question of how much longer will he let them get.

Chaz Lanier, 6-3, 206-pound G, tries to stay in front of the driving Jevon Carter of the Bulls (left photo) on Nov. 12 and looks for a teammate to pass to as Collin Gillespie of the Suns defends (right photo) on Jan. 29. A 2nd round draft pick, Lanier apparently was not ready for the big time in his rookie season; and rather than have him get rusty sitting on the bench, they sent him to the G-League, where he did very well. In his 34 games with the Pistons he averaged only 2.4 points and shot only 31% and didn't have any double figure scoring games. Nothing wrong with his dreads though.

The 4th player with dreads on the Pistons roster at season's end was Isaac Jones, a 6-8, 245-pound F. But of the 7 players with dreads who played at least 1 game for Detroit Jones played the fewest, appearing in just 4, the first of which was on Nov. 17 (right photo), where he played the final 1:19 of the game, here letting Monte Morris get past him for a layup for the final points of the night as the Pistons beat the Pacers 127-112. Jones scored a total of 6 points in his 4 games for Detroit. Before that he began the season in Sacramento, where he played in 3 games for the Kings, including on Oct. 24, when he started and played 14 minutes, here defending against Lauri Markkanen (left photo) of the Jazz.

For the majority of the season Isaac was in the G-League, where he played 42 games for the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons' affiliate.

.

Now, about the 3 players with dreads who were not with the Pistons when the season ended .....

Well, I already mentioned Jaden Ivey (see the Chicago Bulls section). Drafted 5th overall in 2022, Ivey was, as expected, a very good player for the Pistons until breaking his leg in a game on New Year's Day 2025, which started his career on a downward spiral. No doubt the emergence of Daniss Jenkins - along with his health issues - made him expendable and led to his being traded to the Bulls. 

In the same boat as Chaz Lanier and Isaac Jones was Bobi Klintman, a 6-9, 225-pound F from Sweden. A 2nd round draft pick in 2024, Klintman for the 2nd season in a row spent more time playing in the G-League than for the Pistons. These shots are from home games vs. the Cavaliers on Oct. 27 (left photo) and Nov. 12 vs. the Bulls (right photo). He ended up scoring 22 points in 12 games for Detroit in 2025-26, last appearing on Mar. 26 before rejoining the Cruise for the G-League playoffs and then being released during the final week of the NBA regular season.

And updating further ...... Klintman has decided to say goodbye to the house. Over the summer, while playing for Sweden in qualifying games for the 2027 FIBA World Cup he was seen with normal hair, his dreads all cut off.

And speaking of ex-dreads ....

If you were paying attention, you already know what it meant when I listed him above as RONALD HOLLAND. The all caps means he most definitely was with the team when the season ended. And not having him in boldface means that he doesn't have dreads ..... anymore. Drafted 5th overall in 2024, Holland did have dreads for all of his rookie season and made it until the Pistons' 72nd game last season before suddenly cutting them off. As you can see in the photo on left from, as he attempts to score against Jabari Smith of the Rockets on Jan. 23, his dreads were near a foot long when he decided he didn't want them anymore. His 560 points with dreads were the ones he scored before Mar. 25. His total for the whole season was 640 - 8.2 per game. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INDIANA PACERS

   Points: 9219

   Points by players with dreads: 691

          QUENTON JACKSON 448

          Isaiah Jackson 243

   Percentage scored by players with dreads:

          7.5% (rank: 14th)

 

Left to right (in photo on right) Bennedict Mathurin (hoodie), Quenton Jackson (#29) and Isaiah Jackson (#22) celebrate after the Pacers defeat the Warriors for their 1st win of the season on Nov. 1, after they started 0-5 in games in October. With Isaiah traded (along with Mathurin) to the Clippers at the deadline, it not only broke up the Jackson & Jackson partnership, it left Quenton as the sole player with dreads on the team.

6-4, 173-pound G Quenton Jackson has steadily worked his way up after not being selected in the 2022 Draft. And after seeing much more of the G-League than he would have liked, he finally got upgraded to a regular contract last season, playing 49 games - and starting 19 - for the Pacers. Last season was also his 1st with dreads, as he made the conversion after previously having either twists or braids. On Apr. 3 (left photo) Jackson defends LaMelo Ball during the Pacers' loss at Charlotte. And on Apr. 10 (right photo) Quenton tries not to lose it as Justin Edwards of the 76ers tries to knock the ball away from him. Jackson averaged 9.1 points and 2.9 assists last season, so he has proven he can play. So even when Tyrese Haliburton returns next season, there should still be a spot for him on the team - or someone else's team.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MILWAUKEE BUCKS

   Points: 9072

   Points by players with dreads: 1085

          MYLES TURNER 846

          TAUREAN PRINCE 239

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 12.0% (rank: 10th)

After being drafted 11th overall all the way back in 2015, Myles Turner is still going strong, with 2025-26 being his 1st season in Milwaukee after spending his first 10 seasons with the Pacers. In his return to Indianapolis on Nov. 3 (left photo) Turner, a 6-11, 250-pound C, plays hands-on defense against Pascal Siakam. Much to his delight the Bucks won that game 117-115 despite his former fans booing him relentlessly. The Bucks did not win on Mar. 28 however as Victor Wembanyama hits a jumper in the lane while being fouled by Turner (right photo) to give the Spurs a 21-point lead in the 2nd quarter. 

Myles began his dread journey when he first entered the NBA. He spent his only college season at Texas growing his hair and had just enough to make baby dreads out of it in time for his rookie season. Early in his career his dreads didn't look like they were getting any longer, and I thought he might be cutting them and intentionally keeping them short. But then as the years passed I came to realize that his hair just grows slowly. I mean, what else could it be? Just look at him. How can dreads be this short after 11 years? After that long anyone whose hair grows at a normal pace would have dreads at least halfway down his back by now. Not that I'm complaining. It's just unusual. At least he has kept them for that long.

The only other player with dreads for the Bucks is another veteran player who has kept his dreads throughout his entire NBA career. The starting point for Taurean Prince's dreads was his sophomore season at Baylor in 2013-14, as previously seen in dread gallery #152. Thankfully they haven't taken as long to grow as Myles Turner's. But unfortunately ever since they got long, he has kept them reduced for every game for the past several seasons. I'm sure they'd look awesome if he ever unleashed them; but I've given up hope that he ever will, at least not during a game.

Another difference between Prince and Turner is that while Turner played only for the Pacers prior to joining the Bucks for 2025-26, Taurean has made the rounds around the league. A 6-6, 218-pound F, Prince has played for 6 different teams in his 10 NBA seasons. Last season wasn't his best, as he played a career-low 26 games, missing 4 months after having to have surgery in November for a herniated disc in his neck. On Nov. 4 (the last game before his surgery, left photo) Prince tries but fails to stop a driving layup by Scottie Barnes that gives the Raptors a 27-point lead in the 4th quarter. Taurean got called for a foul as well. And near the end of the season on Apr. 8 at Detroit (right photo) Prince drives against Duncan Robinson. Taurean will be doing his driving against Robinson in practice next season. They are teammates now after he was traded to the Pistons during the offseason.

=================================================================================

WESTERN CONFERENCE

SOUTHWEST DIVISION

DALLAS MAVERICKS 

   Points: 9358

   Points by players with dreads: 264

             D'Angelo Russell 264

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 2.8% (rank: 22nd)

The Mavericks finished the season with zero players with dreads on their roster. And they only had one before D'Angelo Russell was traded to the Wizards. Russell played a lot early in the season, even scoring 31 points in one game. But his playing time started dwindling just before Thanksgiving and then it disappeared completely. His last game was on Jan. 10, and he spent his last 12 games with the Mavericks on the bench ..... and then didn't play at all after being traded to the Wizards. 

It's really a blow to your ego to be told - by two teams, no less - that you're not wanted. But cashing those $237,000 checks twice a month kind of softens the blow, doesn't it? 

Along with Isaiah Stewart and Taurean Prince, Russell was also part of that 6-team trade during July; and he is now on the Grizzlies roster. Maybe they'll let him play.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSTON ROCKETS

   Points: 9449                                          

   Points by players with dreads: 163

          DORIAN FINNEY-SMITH 123      

          ISAIAH CRAWFORD 28

          TRISTEN NEWTON 12

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 

          1.7% (rank: 24th)

Two players with dreads on 2-way contracts who rarely played and a role played who played 17 minutes per game. Not much here with the Rockets, but it's more of a contribution by players with dreads than the Mavericks had - arguably.

  

Dorian Finney-Smith, 6-7, 220-pound F, has now been in the Association for 10 years, but he's had dreads for only the last three. He started a lot of games in his first 9 seasons, but with the Rockets in 2025-26 he started in only 1 of his 37 games and averaged career lows of 17 minutes and 3.3 points per game. His only season with the Rockets also was an abbreviated one, not beginning until Christmas Day as he missed the first two months recovering from offseason surgery on his ankle. On Feb. 10 (left photo) Finney-Smith goes up to block a short shot in the lane by Clippers G Jordan Miller after an offensive rebound in the 2nd quarter. And in Game 4 of the Rockets' 1st round playoff series vs. the Lakers on Apr. 26 (right photo) Dorian has his dreads extend fully horizontally as he has F Dalton Knecht drive past him. 

Finney-Smith played his first 6 seasons for the Mavericks. But after being traded twice this offseason, when he suits up for the Hawks in 2026-27 it will be his 4th team in the last 3 seasons. 

After spending most of his first two pro seasons in the G-League on two-way contracts, apparently F Isaiah Crawford has impressed enough, because the Rockets decided to sign him to a regular contract for next season, expecting him to get better. In his 14 appearances with the Rockets last season he scored in only 6 of them for a total of 28 points. Crawford, a 6-6, 220-pounder, tries to get the handle on a loose ball (left photo) before Jalen Pickett does on Mar. 11 at Denver and defends against Grizzlies F Dariq Whitehead (right photo) on Apr. 12, the game in which Isaiah had his first career NBA game in double figures, scoring 11 points.

Tristen Newton so far has been unable to duplicate the success he had in college, where he won the NCAA Tournament 2 years in a row while playing for Connecticut in 2023 and 2024. A 2nd round draft pick in 2024, the 6-5, 190-pound G has played in only 9 NBA games, with most of his appearances coming in the G-League. He was a G-League star last season, averaging 25 PPG for Rio Grande Valley, which earned him in invite to the Rising Stars game (left photo) on Feb. 13. In his only game for the Rockets Newton had his dreads reduced on Apr. 12 (right photo) as he hits a right baseline jumper while being fouled by Lucas Williamson to give the Rockets a 110-73 lead over the Grizzlies early in the 4th quarter. Tristen played the entire quarter in the last game of the regular season and wasn't shy about shooting, hitting 4 for 9 from the field and finishing with 12 points.

Newton was released by the Rockets about a month ago, so we'll have to wait to see where we can see these dreads next season.

Unfortunately we were unable to see these dreads during the regular season, as 28-year old Kevon Harris, 6-5, 216-pound G, played his only games for the Rockets during the preseason - on Oct. 6 (left photo) and on Oct. 16 (right photo) as he drives against Luke Kennard of the Hawks. Harris was on a 2-way deal but appeared only for Rio Grande Valley (and only for 8 games) before being released at the beginning of December. From there he spent the rest of his season playing in China. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

   Points: 9403

   Points by players with dreads: 1761

          GG JACKSON 686

          JAVON SMALL 396

          JA MORANT 389

          JAHMAI MASHACK 192

          ADAMA BAL 83

          BRANDON CLARKE 8

          Charles Bassey 7

   Percentage scored by players with dreads:

          18.7% (rank: 8th)

Tied with the Pistons for the most different players to score in 2025-26. 3 of their 7 players with dreads are on the court during the Feb. 9 game at San Francisco (photo above right), as GG Jackson and Javon Small watch Jahmai Mashack lose a crucial jump ball to De'Anthony Melton with :30 left in the 4th quarter and the Grizzlies leading by 1 (they ended up losing by 1).

Although it was GG Jackson who scored the most points by a Grizzlies player with dreads last season, we all know who should have scored the most. I'm talking about Ja Morant, of course. The 6-2, 174-pound G has scored over 1,150 points in 5 of his 7 NBA seasons so far; and the only reason it isn't all 7 is due to the fact that he has missed so many games. Morant has been no stranger to suspensions during his career, but he lost only 1 game to a suspension in 2025-26. Instead is was two major injuries that limited him to only 20 games. And as he was slow to recover from the second one - an elbow injury suffered on Jan. 21 - the team decided to just not play him at all anymore and spoil their draft lottery chances. On Dec. 26 (left photo) Ja looks to drive against Ryan Rollins of the Bucks and on Dec. 30 (right photo) he fixes his arm sleeve during a break in the game vs. the 76ers.

Drafted 2nd overall in 2019, Morant was supposed to be a superstar; and he has been every bit of that, winning the rookie of the year award in 2020 and going on to average 22.4 PPG over his 7 seasons.

But unfortunately along with Ja Morant the player the Grizzlies got Ja Morant the person. And Ja the person, although not at all a bad person, has made some really bad decisions along the way.

Anyway Morant's time in Memphis has come to an end, as he was traded to the Blazers during the offseason.

 

GG (real name Gregory) Jackson got his dreads started just before his rookie season started after he was picked in the 2nd round of the 2023 Draft, and they've already reached a nice length by his 3rd NBA season. After beginning his rookie year in the G-League, Jackson burst onto the NBA scene in January 2024 at age 19, averaging 14.6 PPG and scoring 20+ points 12 times. Despite that success he's been back in the G-League the last two seasons for brief stints. But he was with the Grizzlies for a career high 55 games last season. GG handles the ball against the Raptors on Apr. 3 (right photo) and works in tight quarters against Jabari Smith and Jae'Sean Tate of the Rockets (left photo) on Mar. 27.

I get the feeling Jackson is heading for stardom in the seasons ahead, but we'll see.         

One of two 2025 2nd round draft picks with dreads on the Grizzlies roster, Javon Small was with the Grizzlies very early in the season, including on opening night (left photo) vs. the Pelicans before being sent to the G-League .... where he suffered a turf toe injury during the first game of the season for the Memphis Hustle. Small, 6-1, 190 pounds, ended up playing 41 games for the Grizzlies - benefitting from the absence of Ja Morant - and averaged 9.7 points and 3.7 assists. On Apr. 1 (right photo) Javon tries to knock the ball away from Jose Alvarado of the Knicks.

I love Small's long dreads, but I'd love them more if he didn't have them reduced for every single game. 

Jahmai Mashack, 6-4, 203-pound G, was the other 2nd round pick with dreads on the Grizzlies roster. He was the 59th and very last pick in the draft. Mashack had his hair either in braids or twists for his first 3 seasons in college (Tennessee); so when he decided to convert to dreads as a senior, I was reluctant to welcome him to the house, unsure if his reduced dreads were dreads or still twists. But it's quite obvious after year 1 in the NBA that these are dreads. After a screen by Clint Capela (at the far right edge of the right photo) Mashack is unable to stay with Reed Sheppard, but Sheppard misses the driving layup very early in the game on Apr. 12. And on Feb. 9 (left photo) Jahmai blocks Brandon Podziemski's path to the hoop, and he settles for a tough jumper defended Javon Small (he missed) during the 3rd quarter.

Mashack started his season in the G-League before the Grizzlies signed him to a 2-way contract in late November. He hardly played for the Grizzlies at all until after the trade deadline, when Vince Williams was dealt. After that he became a regular contributor, usually playing at least 20 minutes every game. He was a masked man for the last 2 weeks of the season after breaking his nose in mid-March and missing 6 games. He ended up averaging 6.2 PPG.

Adama Bal, 6-7, 190-pound G from France, played pro ball in France for one year before coming to America and playing 4 years in college. After not being drafted in 2025, he spent his rookie season with the Knicks' G-League affiliate until the Grizzlies signed him to back-to-back 10-day contracts at the end of the season. He played heavy minutes during those last 3 weeks, as the Grizzlies were in full tank mode, averaging 30 minutes and 10 points per game. On Mar. 28 (left photo) Bal encounters heavy resistance on a drive to the basket and ends up having his shot blocked by Isaac Okoro, with Matas Buzelis (#14) also defending during the 4th quarter. Adama had 3 points, 3 assists, and 5 fouls in his NBA debut, as the Grizzlies defeated the Bulls 125-124, his only win in the 8 games he played. In the next game on Mar. 30 (right photo) Bal tries to drive against Devin Booker of the Suns during the 3rd quarter.

Bal is no longer on the Grizzlies roster, so there's no telling where he'll show up next season.

And that brings us to the sad story of Brandon Clarke. As you likely already know last season was not only his last in the NBA, it was the last year of his life as well. After missing the Grizzlies' first 26 games while recovering from knee surgery, Clarke was finally on the court on Dec. 17 (left photo) at Minneapolis, as he puts up a shot in the lane during the 1st half. Very early in the next game on Dec. 20 he injured his calf, and that was it. He spent the rest of the season watching a lot of basketball, including the game on Feb. 3 (right photo), when he had his dreads completely unleashed. 

About a month after the season he was found dead with cocaine and heroin in his body. So after earning nearly $50 million in 7 years, he won't be around to enjoy it. Really a shame.

https://people.com/brandon-clarke-cause-of-death-revealed-nba-star-dies-at-29-11972888 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FviUU2V05mc

.

Bassey was with the Grizzlies very early in the season on a 10-day contract for 6 games, playing in 2 of them, before not being re-signed and ending up playing for three other teams throughout the season.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

   Points: 9473

   Points by players with dreads: 59

          KEVON LOONEY 59

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 0.6% (rank: 25th)

 

After being the last pick of the 1st round of the 2015 Draft Kevon Looney played 10 seasons with the Warriors and was a member of 3 of their championship teams. But all good things come to an end, and after the Warriors decided not to bring him back he signed with the Pelicans as a free agent for 2025-26. Unfortunately he was slowed all season by a knee injury suffered during the preseason. That along with the promise shown by the Pelicans' talented young big men Derik Queen and Yves Missi kept the 6-9, 222-pound Looney on the bench more often than not; and he ended up playing only 21 games and averaging 2.8 PPG and 5.6 RPG. It was his 6th straight season with more rebounds than points. 

Late in the 1st quarter on Dec. 2 (left photo) Looney comes over to reject a layup by Anthony Edwards. But he didn't get credit for the block because Micah Peavy was called for fouling Edwards. And late in the 3rd quarter on Jan. 21 (right photo) Looney beats Ausar Thompson of the Pistons to a rebound, but it doesn't matter, because with the shot by Daniss Jenkins being an air ball, it was a shot-clock violation instead and officially there was no rebound.

Last season was Kevon's 5th with dreads since he got them started in 2021-22. His 6th will not be in New Orleans, as he has signed with the Lakers for next season.

.

I have Looney as the only player with dreads for the Pelicans in 2025-26. But I probably should have included Trey Alexander too. It looked like he was trying to get some freeform dreads going and was succeeding. And if he continues to I'll welcome  him to the house next season.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO SPURS 

   Points: 9826

   Points by players with dreads: 2067  

          STEPHON CASTLE 1133

          DEVIN VASSELL 932

          Stanley Umude 2

   Percentage scored by players with dreads:

          21.0% (rank: 6th)

As you probably noticed there were two players with dreads who were important members of Victor Wembanyama's supporting cast as the Spurs surprisingly dethroned the Thunder before coming up short against the Knicks in the Finals.

The Spurs won the lottery to draft Wembanyama in 2023, but they also struck gold the next season too when they picked Stephon Castle 4th overall in the 2024 Draft. A teammate of Tristen Newton on UConn's national championship team in his only college season in 2023-24, the 6-6, 215-pound Castle was named rookie of the year in his 1st NBA season and followed that up with an even better year last season. 

Stephon kept his dreads reduced for the first 13 games of the season before missing the next 9 games due to injury. When he returned on Dec. 8 the dreads were at full blast and stayed that way for the rest of the season. And they looked great with the top and side locs bunched together on top and the back side locs left completely free. 

On May 15 (left photo) Castle, with Julius Randle defending, looks to pass in the lane, where Wembanyama has a mismatch with Ayo Dosunmu guarding him early in the 4th quarter at Minneapolis. But Stephon got the pass in too late, and Wemby was called for a 3-second lane violation. Didn't matter though, as the Spurs beat the Timberwolves by 30 to wrap up their 2nd round series in 6 games. And in Game 3 of the Finals (right photo) Castle deals with the close-up defense of Josh Hart in the 1st half at New York.

I've never been a Spurs fan throughout their history, but with Castle on the team at least I can cheer for them a little .....

..... And ditto with Devin Vassell, the 6-5, 200-pound G drafted 11th overall in 2020. In his first 5 NBA seasons there were a lot of points (he averaged 19.5 in 2023-24), a lot more L's than W's, and zero playoff appearances. But it was all good last season as the Spurs went 62-20 and won 13 playoff games, coming up 3 short. Vassell had short hair his rookie year, started growing it out in his 2nd season and had it long enough to get his dreads going at the beginning of 2022-23. And now, the same as Castle, they're really at a good length, and he often wore them in the exact same style as Castle, on Mar. 1 (right photo) at home vs. the Knicks and on Nov. 14 (left photo) in an NBA Emirates Cup home game vs. the Warriors. He also had them in a ponytail (see photo above at top of section from May 26) some of the time, and I imagine we'll be seeing a lot more of that style in the future, as they've gotten too long for the some up, some down style.

Even diehard Spurs fans might not be able to tell you the name of the third player with dreads on the team last season. Only for the last 2:10 of their game on Feb. 1 and the last 4:24 of the game on Feb. 21 were there any sightings of 6-6, 210-pound G Stanley Umude and his reduced dreads in a San Antonio Spurs uniform. All of his other games were played for the Austin Spurs in the G-League, and that includes on Dec. 8 (left photo), as he shoots against Boo Buie of the Mexico City Capitanes. In his first appearance for San Antonio on Feb. 1 (right photo) Umude is called for a foul 8 seconds after entering the game as Magic G Jase Richardson beats Jordan McLaughlin (#0) off the dribble and hits layup as Umude is too late with the help. 

After 4 seasons of playing mostly in the G-League Stanley decided to look for greener pastures and has signed with Spanish club Barcelona for next season.  

===============================================================================

NORTHWEST DIVISION

DENVER NUGGETS

   Points: 10,010

   Points by players with dreads: 675

          AARON GORDON 582

          DaRON HOLMES 93

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 6.7% (rank: 17th)

The 4th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Aaron Gordon had short hair during his first 6 seasons with the Magic. But when he grew it long and started turning into braids apparently the Magic didn't approve (just joking!) because they traded him to the Nuggets halfway through the 2020-21 season. Ever since then he has been a vital part of Nikola Jokic's supporting cast. Gordon, a 6-8, 235-pound F has won 7 playoff series in his 5½ seasons in Denver (with just a little bit of help from Jokic), including a championship in 2023, after winning none in Orlando. After a couple of seasons with braids/twists, he converted to dreads at the start of the 2022-23 season. A 3-time NBA Slam Dunk contest participant (but zero-time winner), Gordon rises before throwing one down (right photo) to give the Nuggets a 19-point lead over the Blazers in the 4th quarter on Mar. 22. With his dreads half reduced/half full blast on Nov. 15 (left photo) Gordon tries to drive past Julius Randle during the Nuggets' win at Minneapolis.

DaRon Holmes, a 6-9, 225-pound F, is someone the Nuggets are hoping will replace Gordon someday. He spent last season bouncing back after his NBA got off to a disastrous start. The 22nd pick of the 1st round in 2024, Holmes torn his Achilles tendon in a Summer League game just 16 days after the Draft and was out for his entire rookie season. Last season there wasn't much playing time available with the Nuggets, and he appeared in only 25 games, impressively shooting 51% overall and 44% from 3-point range. Early in the season he averaged over 20 PPG for the Grand Rapids Drive in the G-League. Holmes had his dreads reduced for every game he played with the Nuggets; but he did have them going full blast on the opening day of the G-League's regular season (left photo) on Dec. 19. More of this look next season, please, DaRon. On the right Holmes battles Bobby Portis for the ball at Milwaukee on Jan. 23.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

   Points: 9676

   Points by players with dreads: 2095  

          NAZ REID 1046

          BONES HYLAND 604

          AYO DOSUNMU 345

          TERRENCE SHANNON 100

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 

          21.7% (rank: 5th)

Ayo Dosunmu (on right in photo on right) and Bones Hyland brought the excitement for the T-wolves in a season that peaked with a 1st round playoff upset of the Nuggets before they lost to the Spurs in Round 2 in 6 games.

I don't know what has gone on with Naz Reid's dreads over the 7 years since his only college season (at LSU) in 2018-19, but for real they look now only a tiny bit longer than they were during his only college season 7 years ago. Last season he did often have them folded back into a bun, hiding their true length. But even with that it just seems they should be much longer. But there's been nothing disappointing about Reid's performance as a player. For some reason Nazreon (real name) was not picked in the 2019 Draft. But the Timberwolves knew immediately they had a keeper, upgrading him from a 2-way to a regular contract already at the end of the Summer League in 2019. He then spent about 2 months of his rookie season in the G-League but his been entirely with the T-wolves ever since. Despite rarely starting he has averaged in double figures in 5 of his 7 seasons and at least 8.3 PPG in all 7. A big man who can shoot, the 6-9, 264-pound F/C has made 731 career 3-pointers (on not-too-bad 37% shooting).

Naz handles the ball (left photo) in the Dec. 17 home game vs. Memphis and tries to challenge the shot but De'Aaron Fox (right photo) but is called for a foul very early in the 2nd quarter of Game 4 of the series vs. the Spurs on May 10. Reid had 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in the game as the Wolves evened the series at 2 in what turned out to be their last win of the season.

The Wolves, as you probably heard, are moving in a different direction next season, and that new direction won't include Reid, who was traded to the Hornets in one of the big trades during the offseason.

When you do a photo search of Bones Hyland, you will see that several of the photos are of him in his favorite celebration pose (including the left photo, from the Mar. 18 game vs. the Jazz), which he usually strikes after hitting a 3-pointer. On the right Hyland, a 6-2, 169-pound G, tries to score against Jonas Valanciunas but misses the driving layup very early in the 2nd quarter of the playoff opener at Denver on Apr. 18. 

Hyland began his career with the Nuggets after being drafted late in the 1st round in 2021, and he began it with me wondering if he had dreads that he kept reduced all the time, or if he had twists. And I continued to wonder for a couple more seasons. Not until the 2024-25 season did I welcome him to the house, after I finally was convinced he had converted to dreads. Even now though he still is often on the court with his dreads reduced.

After being traded to the Clippers in 2023 and then to the Hawks in 2025 Hyland was released. He then signed a 2-way contract with Minnesota, and after he scored 28 and 39 points in two G-League games, the T-wolves realized he was just wasting his time there. And he's been with the Timberwolves ever since, playing in a career high 71 games last season and averaging 8.5 PPG.

After playing his first 325 NBA games (only one of them in the postseason, and that was in play-in game) in a Bulls uniform, Ayo Dosunmu (you pronounce it like the 'n' isn't there) was traded to the Timberwolves. And to the surprise of nobody the Bulls' loss was the T-wolves' gain, as he averaged 14.4 points in 29 minutes per game for Minnesota. He averaged 21.8 PPG in his first career playoff series vs. the Nuggets, including that incredible, career high 43-point game in Game 4, before things didn't go so well against the Spurs. 

Ayo (short for his middle name Ayopo - his real first name is Quamdeen, and you can understand it that he doesn't want to go by that) came into the league angry that he wasn't a 1st round draft pick. He was the 8th pick of the 2nd round in 2021 and wasted no time proving everybody wrong.

On Feb. 11 (left photo) Dosunmu drives past Scoot Henderson during the Wolves' home victory over the Blazers; and on Mar. 15 (right photo) no foul is called either way as Dosunmu tries to stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a road loss to the Thunder.

Ayo's dreads have come a long way since we first saw them in Part 2 of dread gallery 178. They're at an excellent length now, but unfortunately he keeps them reduced for every game.

After earning a total of $23.5 million on his first 2 NBA contracts, Ayo will make $19.3 million alone on the first year of the new contract he signed with the Timberwolves during the offseason. And he'll make at least $20 million more in each of the next 4 years after that.

Terrence Shannon flirted with starting his dreads throughout his 5 years in college (2019-24) before finally committing to letting them grow longer during his last season at Illinois. And after being picked near the end of the 1st round in the 2024 Draft he kept them growing during his rookie season with the Timberwolves. But then last season during his long injury absence between Dec. 27 and Feb. 20 he decided to cut them off.

Here on Dec. 19 (photo on right) Ajay Mitchell is called for a blocking foul late in the 3rd quarter on Shannon's drive to the basket. Terrence made both free throws to cut OKC's lead to 1. They were his only 2 points of the night as the Timberwolves won 112-107, handing the Thunder only their 3rd defeat of the season.

Shannon injured his foot a week later in the game on Christmas Day. He scored 100 points in the 22 games he played while he had dreads.
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

   Points: 9760

   Points by players with dreads: 1705

          CASON WALLACE 660

          LUGUENTZ DORT 576

          JAYLIN WILLIAMS 469

   Percentage scored by players with dreads:

          17.5% (rank: 9th)

Cason Wallace (#22), Luguentz Dort (#5) and Jaylin Williams (#6) have been important contributors as part of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's supporting cast during the Thunder's very successful last 3 seasons, which has seen them average 63 wins per season and win 7 playoff series, including the championship in 2024-25.

NBA.com still has him listed as Luguentz, which I don't know how it's pronounced. All the announcers just call him Lu. Undrafted in 2019, Luguentz Dort signed a 2-way contract and played a few games in the G-League before joining the Thunder (and moving into the starting lineup) for good on Jan. 18, 2020. At 6-4, 220 pounds Dort is a power guard who isn't shy about throwing those 220 pounds around, a player who hangs his hat on playing tough defense. He is also a borderline dirty player, and you really have to be careful whenever he's nearby. Players who aren't paying attention tend to end up getting injured. He averaged 17.2 PPG on a bad Thunder team in 2021-22, but as the team got better his scoring steadily got less and less. His 8.3 PPG average last season was his only season not averaging double figures since his rookie year. On Jan. 4 (left photo) Dort begins a drive to the basket against the Suns. And in the photo on the right (also on Jan. 4) it's 3 players who are teammates when they play for Canada's national team, as Montreal native Dort throws a nasty screen on Dillon Brooks to help Shai Gilgeous-Alexander get loose for a drive. 

Lu got his dreads started right when his pro career started after growing his hair out during his only college season at Arizona State. Although he had his dreads at full blast in this game, there were more games than not where he had them reduced. 
Look for Dort in an Atlanta Hawks uniform next season after the Thunder traded him during the offseason.

They might not be the longest, but Cason Wallace's dreads surely are among the top 5 longest in the league. Wallace, the 6-3, 195-pound G came into the NBA as the 10th overall pick in the 2023 Draft, just as the Thunder were getting really good. And make no mistake, he helped them get really good. A much better player than his older brother, Keaton (see the Atlanta Hawks section), Cason followed Lu Dort's lead, becoming an excellent defender. But he's only scratched the surface of his potential on offense, and I believe he could turn into a big star in the near future. Actually I think that's why the Thunder traded Dort, so that they can get Wallace more minutes on the court. On Apr. 7 at Los Angeles (left photo) Cason stays in front of 6-8 F Rui Hachimura, denying him a path to the basket and forcing him to settle for a jump shot (which he missed) midway through the 3rd quarter. And on May 30 (right photo) Wallace dribbles upcourt in the Game 7 home loss to the Spurs in the West Finals. 

Unfortunately Cason doesn't very often have his dreads at full blast. I can tolerate it when he has them only partially reduced - as in these two photos - but it's pretty disappointing watching the games where they're completely reduced.

And completing the trio of Thunder players with long dreads last season, here is Jaylin Williams. Drafted early in the 2nd round in 2022, the 6-9, 240-pound F made a handful of appearances in the G-League before spending most of the 2nd half of his rookie season in the starting lineup for the Thunder. But he's been a mostly a reserve for the last 3 seasons. Early in the 3rd quarter on Dec. 7 (left photo) Williams heads to the basket, leaving Keyonte George behind after he faked a 3-point shot and got George to leave his feet and fly right past him. A couple of seconds later Jaylin dished to Jalen Williams (no relation) for a dunk, answering a dunk by the Jazz 11 seconds earlier. And on Jan. 25 (right photo) Jaylin is the one who falls for a shot fake, and when Sandro Mamukelashvili turns back to his right and goes up to shoot, Jaylin recovers too late to prevent him from hitting the shot, cutting the Thunder lead to 94-91 with just under 4 minutes to play. The Thunder ended up losing that one at home to the Raptors 103-101.

In case you didn't know, Jaylin owes his Asian facial features to his Vietnamese mother. But he was born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas. His dreads have grown long rapidly after starting with freeform dreads during his freshman college season at Arkansas in 2020-21. The same as with Cason Wallace, I don't think we've yet seen how good Jaylin is going to be. He played a career high 19.6 minutes per game last season, and I think that'll go way up next season.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

   Points: 9469

   Points by players with dreads: 3921

          JERAMI GRANT 1060

          SHAEDON SHARPE 1042

          JRUE HOLIDAY 865

          ROBERT WILLIAMS 397

          SIDY CISSOKO 383

          MATISSE THYBULLE 174

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 41.4% (rank: 1st)

Never did I think we'd see the day where half of an NBA team's points would be scored by players with dreads. And we still haven't, but the Blazers sure made a good run at it last season.

When going back to find out when Jerami Grant first got his dreads started, I had forgotten how many other teams he played with before he got to Portland. 4 other teams, the first of which was the 76ers, who drafted him in the 2nd round in 2014. Last season was his 4th with the Blazers, more than with the 76ers (2), Thunder (3), Nuggets (1), and Pistons (2). Grant, a 6-7, 213-pound F, very briefly had dreads at the start of the 2016-17 season before untwisting them back to normal. The dreads he had last season began at the start of the 2018-19 season. After not averaging more than 9.7 PPG in his first 4 years, he has been in double figures every season for the past 8, boosting his career average to 13.5 PPG. Jerami dribbles near center court (left photo) during the 1st quarter Game 1 of the Blazers' series vs. the Spurs on Apr. 19. And in the 4th quarter of Game 4 (right photo) he tries to prevent a Blazers turnover while battling Victor Wembanyama and Dylan Harper for a loose ball. The play resulted with Harper and him tied up for a jump ball.

Unfortunately Jerami's time with the Blazers has come to an end, as he was one of the players traded when the Blazers acquired Ja Morant. And even more unfortunately it looks like Jerami's dread journey has come to an end too - after 8 years - as he has cut off the dreads and gone back to normal hair for next season.

If you think Grant has been in the NBA a long time ......

 

...... meet Jrue Holiday. He also was drafted by the 76ers, but 5 years earlier than Grant - the 17th pick in the 1st round in 2009. That means last season was his 17th NBA season. And not just a good player, the 6-4, 220-pound G has been an outstanding player for a long time. Last season was his first in Portland after playing for the 76ers (4 years), Pelicans (7), Bucks (3), and Celtics (2). He won the NBA championship with the Bucks (2021) and Celtics (2024) and won Olympic gold medals in both of those years as well. He has played in the NBA All-Star Game twice and made the NBA All-Defensive team 6 times. And yeah, btw, his career earnings are over $315 million.

Holiday had normal hair for his first 8 seasons before starting out with braids part time during 2017-18 and then full time the next year. And I thought he was going to stay with braids for the rest of his career. But then he spent the 2020-21 season, his first in Milwaukee, letting the braids convert into dreads, and I was able to welcome him to the house in 2021-22. So his dreads were much longer than most when they first got started, and now they're very long.

On Mar. 25 (left photo) Jrue lines up a 3-pointer early in the 4th quarter, which he made to give the Blazers a 100-66 lead over the Wizards. It was his 3rd 3-pointer in less than 2 minutes. And in Denver on Apr. 6 (right photo) Holiday and teammate Deni Avdija double team Jamal Murray (and his twists).

It looks like all systems are GO for Holiday's 18th season. Should be a blast watching him and Morant on the court together.

Just the same as with Holiday I wondered if I was going to ever be able to welcome Shaedon Sharpe to the house. He came into the league as the 7th player picked in the Draft in 2022; and when he came in, it looked like his hair was in dreads, but actually he had 2-strand twists. However, his plan all along apparently was to have dreads, and he spent his rookie year letting the twists slowly turn into dreads. And after a lot of hesitation and double-checking and triple-checking, I welcomed him at the start of the 2023-24 season, convinced he had fully converted to dreads. And now 2 years later the dreads are at a perfect length for a basketball player. No need to band them, bunch them, bun them, or braid (reduce) them. Just let them be; and that's what Sharpe did in 2025-26.

No matter what kind of hair he has Sharpe, a 6-5, 210-pound G is one of the most exciting players in the league, with a long highlight reel of amazing dunks. His scoring average has improved in each of his 4 years in the league, from 9.9 PPG as a rookie to 15.9 to 18.5 to 20.8. If he gets better from 3-point range he could turn into a star. Shaedon went 3 for 9 on 3-pointers en route to scoring 27 points at Sacramento on Jan. 18, including this miss (right photo) against DeMar DeRozan in the 2nd quarter. And at OKC on New Year's Eve (left photo) Sharpe decides whether to drive or shoot a 3 vs. the Thunder.

Matisse Thybulle, 6-5, 202-pound G, was a surprise - and welcome - new resident in the house last season. In his first 6 NBA seasons since he was drafted 20th overall in the 1st round in 2019 Thybulle always kept his hair kind of long but always natural. You might call it a mid-size afro. So there was no reason to think season #7 would be any different. But not only did he get his dreads started, he already had enough hair grown to make nearly footlong dreads.

It's no secret. Thybulle has played 7 seasons and earned $45 million (without ever averaging more than 7.5 PPG in any season, btw) for one reason: he's a very good 3-point shooter. He has attempted more 3-point shots than 2-pointers in every year of his year and has made 43.8% of his threes. This one on Feb. 28 (right photo) wasn't one of his better attempts, as he costs Jrue Holiday an assist with a miss early in the 2nd quarter, keeping the Blazers 14 points behind the Hornets. In the Blazers' 1st road game of the season on Oct. 26 (left photo) Matisse turns his own defense into offense, stealing a pass at halfcourt and going in for the easy layup, cutting the Clippers' lead to 98-93 with 7:27 to play. The Blazers got no closer though as the Clippers held on to win it 114-107. In his next game Thybulle torn a ligament in his thumb and didn't play again until late February, at which point he returned to his role as a key reserve.

 

Drafted near the end of the 1st round in 2018, Robert Williams waited until his 2nd season, in 2019-20, to get his dreads started, and they've grown to long length since then. After playing his first 4 seasons with the Celtics, Williams has been with the Blazers for the last three after being traded near the end of the 2023 offseason. The 6-9, 249-pound C is known for defense and rebounding. In fact, he has averaged nearly the same number of rebounds as points in every season of his career. Through 7 years he's at 7.1 PPG and 6.9 RPG. He also has an impressive career mark of 1.6 blocked shots per game, averaging at least 1.2 in every season. On Nov. 3 (left photo) after stealing an inbounds pass Williams dribbles in for an uncontested dunk to give the Blazers a 3-point lead over the Lakers in the 1st quarter. It was one of the very few (and maybe the only) games all season in which he didn't have his dreads reduced. And on Dec. 22 (right photo) Williams battles against Jalen Duren of the Pistons (not sure if this was a shot or a rebound).  

After 3 seasons mostly in the G-League, including the 2022-23 season with the G-League Ignite team before he was drafted in the 2nd round in 2023, Sidy Cissoko said "no more of that!" and became key player in the NBA last season. The 6-6, 220-pound F from France played 75 games for the Blazers, starting 26 of them and averaging 19 minutes. Mostly he contributed just high energy and effort, but at some point soon he's going to have to do better than the 39.8% he shot last year (and 29.8% on 3-pointers). Last season was season #2 for Cissoko's dreads; so they're not long enough yet to for him to need to reduce them, although that didn't stop him from reducing them anyway for several games. They were at full blast in these 2 shots, as he steals the ball from Rasheer Fleming on a drive to the basket then dribbles to the other end for his only 2 points of the game (left photo), upping the Portland lead to 80-63 early in the 4th quarter at Phoenix on Feb. 22. A month later on Mar. 22 Sidy defends (right photo) as Aaron Gordon sets to go up for a shot in the 1st quarter at Denver.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UTAH JAZZ

   Points: 9642

   Points by players with dreads: 688

          ISAIAH COLLIER 688

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 7.1% (rank: 16th)

The second-to-last pick in the 1st round of the 2024 Draft, 6-4, 210-pound G Isaiah Collier had his hair in braids during his rookie year before upgrading to dreads last season. And he upgraded his play as well, improving from 8.7 to 11.7 PPG and from 42.2 to 49.5% shooting. And his average of 7.2 assists per game was the 3rd highest by any player with dreads last season. Not that it helped the Jazz win many games though, and that's just the way the Jazz wanted. Collier defends against CJ McCollum (left photo) at Atlanta on Feb. 5, the night he played all 48 minutes (for the 2nd straight game) and scored 25 points in a 121-119 loss to the Hawks. In the photo on the right Isaiah handles the ball at Minneapolis on Mar. 18 in what was his last game of the season. He missed the final 13 games due to a strained hamstring injury.

===============================================================================

PACIFIC DIVISION

We go from the abundance of dreads in the Northwest Division to the paucity of dreads on the NBA's California-based teams.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

   Points: 9398

   Points by players with dreads: 320

          WILL RICHARD 267

          CHARLES BASSEY 53

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 3.4% (rank: 20th)

Charles Bassey certainly had an interesting season - and one he probably wouldn't want to do over ever again. After stops with four other teams (and two teams in the G-League too) the 6-10, 230-pound C, a 2021 2nd round draft pick, finished the season with the Warriors. He was with the Hawks during the preseason but didn't make the team. He then began the regular season with the Grizzlies on a 10-day contract (left photo above, from Nov. 5) and later was with the 76ers (right photo above, watching Tyrese Maxey go in for a dunk after setting a screen for him near midcourt vs. the Knicks on Feb. 11) and Celtics (left photo below, slamming home an alley-oop pass from Peyton Pritchard during garbage time at Milwaukee on Apr. 3) on two 10-day contracts each.  And for the final week of the season he found himself in a Warriors uniform (right photo below, getting past Jake LaRavia on his way to the basket for a layup early in the 4th quarter vs. the Lakers on Apr. 9). Bassey scored in double figures in 3 of his 5 games for the Warriors.

 

Born and raised in Nigeria before moving to the US when he was a teenager after he grew so tall it was recommended he try basketball instead of soccer, Charles had normal hair in his first 2 NBA seasons. Then at the beginning of the 2023-24 season he suddenly showed up with dreads nearly a foot long - not a lot of locs and obviously not his own hair. Now they're longer, but he keeps them reduced all the time.

Bassey hasn't made much of an impact in the league so far; but this guy is not without talent. Maybe he'll be able to put it all together one of these days and start making some real money. All those 10-day contracts last season didn't even add up to $800,000.

6-3, 206-pound G Will Richard had a decent rookie season (for a 2nd round draft pick), but his dreads only made it halfway through his rookie season. Richard scores a fast break layup (photo on right) against the Jazz late in the 2nd quarter on Jan. 3, two weeks before (sadly) cutting his dreads off. His season total was 441 points, with 267 of them coming while he still had dreads. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

   Points: 9329

   Points by players with dreads: 2340

          KAWHI LEONARD 1813               

          DARIUS GARLAND 378

          ISAIAH JACKSON 127

          TYTY WASHINGTON 21

          Jahmyl Telfort 1

   Percentage scored by players with dreads:

          25.1% (rank: 3rd)

Although the Blazers and Nets may have finished 1-2 in points by players with dreads, the Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland, surely had the most points scored by players with reduced dreads.

From the first time I saw Kawhi Leonard - in college at San Diego State in 2009 - it seemed like he was destined to always have his hair in cornrow braids. And so it was - through his 2 seasons with the Aztecs and many more in the NBA. But then at the start of the 2023-24 season something changed. The cornrows looked different. They looked like they were reduced dreads. And I wondered, "could it be?" Well, yes, it turned out they were dreads, which was confirmed by a number photos of him taken while he was not playing. In all the photos of him in uniform on the court he has kept his dreads reduced. I'm guessing that he got tired of spending so much time getting his hair unbraided and re-braided over and over that he figured he could have the same look with reduced dreads and with far less maintenance. The photos of Leonard here are from the home games on Oct. 26 vs. the Blazers (left) and Jan. 1 vs. the Jazz (right).

Whatever the hairstyle Leonard, a 6-6, 225-pound F, has been one of the best players in NBA history - around 30th or so best, according to the experts, a sure future Hall of Famer. An absolute steal as the 15th overall pick in the 2011 Draft, Leonard has played in the All-Star Game 7 times and won 2 championships. And he doesn't seem to be slowing down. Last season he remained healthy enough to play 65 games and averaged a career best 27.9 PPG. 

Unfortunately Kawhi's 3-year dread journey has come to an end. It's back to Toronto (where he helped the Raptors take the championship in 2019) and back to braids for next season.

Of the 71 NBA players with dreads in 2025-26 there are 2 who followed their fathers' footsteps into the league. Jerami Grant's father, Harvey Grant, played 11 seasons, wrapping up his career in 1999, and Jerami surpassed his dad in 2025-26, playing his 12th season. The other is Darius Garland, who last season equaled the 7 NBA seasons played by his father, Winston Garland, in the late 1980's and early 90's. Unlike his dad, who was a 2nd round pick, Darius, a 6-1, 192-pound G, was expected to be a star, as the 5th overall pick in 2019. And he has been exactly that, playing in the All-Star Game twice. Up until the trade deadline last season Darius had played his entire career for the Cavaliers. The trip to LA gave the Clippers two outstanding players who prefer to keep their dreads reduced all the time. Statwise Garland has been remarkably consistent throughout his career, with his 2025-26 season averages of 18.8 PPG and 6.7 APG being almost exactly identical to his career averages.     
On Mar. 11 (left photo) Darius celebrates after hitting one of the 5 3-pointers he made in the Clippers' 153-128 rout of the Timberwolves. And midway through the 1st quarter on Apr. 2 Garland hits a baseline shot from just outside the lane over the defense of Dylan Harper, a rare bright spot in a 5-for-17 shooting night in a 118-99 home loss to the Spurs.

Darius spent his rookie season letting his freeform dreads form into dreads; but as early as his 2nd season he made it clear that most of the time he was going to play with his dreads reduced. Yes, there have been many games over the years that he has let them go full blast; but the number of those games has been shrinking each year the longer his dreads get.

The day after they acquired Garland the Clippers added another player with dreads to the roster, picking up 6-8, 205-pound C Isaiah Jackson in a trade with the Pacers. After being drafted 21st overall in the 1st round in 2021 last season was Jackson's 5th in the NBA, as he came back nicely after missing most of 2024-25 due to a torn Achilles. He averaged 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds last season, numbers very similar to his career averages. 

After his first two seasons Jackson seemingly was on his way to having the best dreads in the league. But then something happened, because when he showed up for the 2023-24 season his dreads appeared to be thicker, and it didn't seem like he had as many locs. The logical conclusion was that he halfway permanently reduced his dreads (turning every two locs into one), and that's probably what happened; but I can't say that for sure. 

On Mar. 19 (left photo) Isaiah has the new version of his dreads going at full blast as he goes up and swats away a shot in the lane by Herbert Jones, keeping the Clippers 3 points ahead of the Pelicans midway through the 4th quarter. Then in Dallas two nights later on Mar. 21 (right photo) the dreads are reduced as Jackson has a face-to-face discussion with Naji Marshall after Jackson fouled Marshall on a drive to the basket late in the 3rd quarter. Technical fouls were called on both players.

Also making his Clippers debut in 2025-26 was 6-3, 195-pound G Tyty Washington (real name Tyrone). The second-to-last pick of the 1st round of the Draft in 2022, Washington never made it in the NBA - at least not yet. He has been with 4 different teams in his 4 seasons and played more G-League games than NBA games for those teams the last three seasons. He has been on NBA courts for only 695 minutes in 4 years, and 433 of those were in his rookie season with the Rockets. He played 88 for the Clippers last season, with 8 of those coming on Mar. 4 (right photo) as he is called for a foul 42 seconds after entering the game in the 4th quarter on a drive and attempted shot by Pacers F Jarace Walker. 3 days before that on Mar. 1 Tyty was in the G-League in a San Diego Clippers uniform (left photo) giving everyone a good look at his completely unleashed dreads. Washington had his hair mostly in braids for his first 2 seasons, then spent year 3 letting his 2-strand twists convert into dreads, allowing me to welcome him to the house last season. Unfortunately these dreads will not be seen at an NBA arena near you next season. But they will be seen in the east suburbs of Lyon, France, where Washington will be playing for ASVEL Basket.

If you thought Washington didn't play much ..... meet Jahmyl Telfort. The 6-7, 225-pound F, a Montreal native, wasn't drafted last year but earned a 2-way contract with the Clippers after playing well enough in the preseason. But after playing only 34 minutes over 8 games - and shooting 0-4 FG (all 3-pointers) and 1-4 FT - he was let go and ending up playing a full G-League season with the SD Clippers. With the LA Clippers down 18 in garbage time at Orlando on Nov. 20 (right photo) Telfort, after faking Tristan Da Silva off of his feet and leaving him behind, sets to shoot a 3 - and shoots an air ball. The photo on the left is from the preseason on Oct. 17, as Telfort and Yanic Konan Niederhauser double-team Stephen Curry. It would be great to see these long dreads in the NBA again someday - and even greater if he wouldn't have them reduced - and that remains a possibility as he is back with the Clippers for the 2026-27 preseason.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

LOS ANGELES LAKERS

   Points: 9540

   Points by players with dreads: 47

          ADOU THIERO 47

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 0.5% (rank: 26th)

2nd round rookie (drafted #36 overall) Adou Thiero kept the Lakers from being completely without dreads last season. Even so he played only 25 games for them and averaged only 6 minutes when he did play. The 6-7, 220-pound F also played in the G-League, where he went undefeated in 12 games for the South Bay Lakers. Without seeing a replay of the game I don't know what the photo on the left is a picture of, as he controls the ball in front of Oso Ighodaro at Phoenix on Dec. 23. The caption was no help. On Apr. 7 (right photo) Thiero shoots one of the 10 free throws he attempted in the game vs. the Thunder. He made only 5 of them. In the Lakers' 123-87 loss that night Adou had his only game of the season scoring in double figures, finishing with exactly 10 points.

Hopefully Thiero will be around long enough for us to see these dreads grow much longer. But to do that he'll need to improve a lot.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

PHOENIX SUNS

   Points: 9232

   Points by players with dreads: 0

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 0% (rank: 30th)

Well, this won't take long. If you were looking for braids, Suns games were a pretty good place to be last season. But dreads? No. The Suns were the only team in the league that had no players with dreads on their roster at all in 2025-26. And things aren't exactly looking up for next season either. Maybe CJ Huntley will allow his 2-strand twists convert to dreads.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SACRAMENTO KINGS

   Points: 9102

   Points by players with dreads: 978

          PRECIOUS ACHIUWA 736

          Keon Ellis 239

          Isaac Jones 3

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 10.7% (rank: 11th)

One of 3 players with dreads with the Kings early in the season, 6-8, 243-pound F/C Precious Achiuwa was the only one left standing at the end of the season. Drafted in the 1st round by the Heat in 2020, the native of Nigeria who moved to the US in time for high school, was traded by the Heat after his rookie season. He hoped to make last season a reunion with the Heat, but he was released just before the regular season began and suddenly found himself without a team. Enter the Kings, who signed him a couple of weeks into the season, and he soon found himself a regular in the starting lineup for the first time in his career. He ending up having the best season of his career, averaging in double figures for the first time at 10.1 PPG, and has been re-signed by the Kings for next season. 

At Sacramento on Nov. 30 (left photo) Achiuwa drives to the basket against Grizzlies F Jaren Jackson Jr. late in the 1st quarter but badly misses the layup. But he most definitely does not miss with 3:35 to play until halftime on Mar. 3 (right photo), soaring past Mark Williams for a dunk to cut the Phoenix lead to 1. At that point of the game Precious was the leading scorer in the game with 14 points. He ended up with 18.

I used to be a big Precious Achiuwa fan; but was harder these last few years because he's been driving me nuts with these reduced dreads. Often during his first 3 seasons he would let them go full blast, and they looked great. Even when he first started keeping them reduced all the time - circa 2023-24 - they weren't too bad. But in the last couple of seasons he reduced them even more, so much so that you couldn't even recognize them as dreads.

Anyway, I won't be able to complain anymore next season, because doesn't have dreads anymore, deciding to go with braids instead.

.

After spending the first 3½ seasons of his career with the Kings, Keon Ellis was traded to the Cavaliers at the trade deadline, much to the disappointment of a lot of Kings fans.

Isaac Jones played in only 3 games before being let go when the team acquired Achiuwa.

================================================================================= 

Just a quick recap before wrapping this up. 

These are the 5 players with dreads who scored over 1000 points during the 2025-26 regular season .....

     Kawhi Leonard 1813

     Stephon Castle 1133

     Jerami Grant 1060

     Naz Reid 1046

     Shaedon Sharpe 1042

And here again are the team percentages of points scored by players with dreads, all in a list from highest to lowest .....

1. Blazers 41.4%
2. Nets 30.5%
3. Clippers 25.1%
4. Pistons 22.7%
5. Timberwolves 21.7%
6. Spurs 21.0%
7. Wizards 20.2%
8. Grizzlies 18.7%
9. Thunder 17.5%
10. Bucks 12.0%
11. Kings 10.7%
12. Magic 9.7%
13. Bulls 7.7%
14. Pacers 7.5%
15. Cavaliers 7.3%
16. Jazz 7.1%
17. Nuggets 6.7%
18. Raptors 5.8%
19. Hornets 4.6%
20. Warriors 3.4%
21. 76ers 2.9%
22. Mavericks 2.8%
23. Hawks 2.0%
24. Rockets 1.7%
25. Pelicans 0.6%
26. Lakers 0.5%
27. Celtics 0.5%
28. Heat 0.3%
29. Knicks 0.1%
30. Suns 0%

And the totals for the whole league ....

 

   Points: 284,395

   Points by players with dreads: 29,195

   Percentage scored by players with dreads: 10.3%   

Well, Kawhi Leonard and Jerami Grant will no longer be contributing to the points by players with dreads next season, so it's going to be tough to hit 10% again. But I wouldn't automatically bet against it either.

 

I was planning to follow up this post with some NBA dread galleries. But that was early in the summer, when I didn't think this was going to take so long to do. Next season is already here, so ..... I'm still planning to do some NBA dread galleries with photos from last season. We'll see how it goes. I have no idea how long it will take or how many of them I'll be able to finish.