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5 NBA Players with Iconic Pre-Game Rituals

Dwyane Wade, LeBron James & Kevin Garnette during their pre-game routines.
Dwyane Wade, LeBron James & Kevin Garnette during their pre-game routines

Pre-Game rituals can be a result of multiple reasons. One of them being that superstars tend to believe in a higher power that rules over the outcome of the game(superstition), the other being that it shows the players are going to put up a great game against the other team, so it hypes up the crowd.

Natural ability plays a major role and physical training is essential, but there's also a mental component, which leads the players towards superstitious optimism.

 A lot of players have created their personal pre-game rituals that help them get in their zone and are a signal to the arena and all in attendance, that the show is about to begin.

Among other sports, Basketball is an example that features an abundance of pre-game rituals and what place better to look for them than the NBA.

The following are some NBA superstars coupled with their famed pre-game rituals, adopted during the course of their careers.


#5 Stephen Curry's Tunnel Shot

It’s just further evidence of Curry’s inhuman shot-making ability.
It’s just further evidence of Curry’s inhuman shot-making ability

Ranging from his dribbling drills to the famed tunnel shot, Stephen Curry's pre-game routines are really crowd-pleasing. People would flock to stadiums hours before official playtime just to watch Curry going through his dribbling motions with a couple of balls in each hand and shoot long-range jumpers.

The Tunnel-Shot is just another one of Curry's pre-game rituals that initiate the proceedings at the Arena before the ball-game. In retrospect, Steph attributes the origin of this well-known practice to a casual bet.

"I was shooting it and [Warriors associate GM for the Santa Cruz Warriors Pat Sund] walked by," Curry said. "And we put a kind of funny bet on it, basically about who can buy the next meal. So I get two or three shots at it. If I didn’t make it, I lost. If I made it, I won."

And that's how an impromptu bet morphed into one of the more thrilling pregame routines in today’s game.

Unfortunately, With the Warriors set to move to San Francisco and their new Chase Center arena in 2019, the new alignment of the set of tunnels will seemingly make Steph’s famed tunnel shot impossible.

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