Sources: NBA warning, but no ban, for Howard
The Houston Rockets on Monday received an official warning from the league office regarding Dwight Howard‘s admitted use of Stickum in a recent game against the Atlanta Hawks, but sources said Monday that will be the extent of the punishment for Howard or the Rockets.
Sources told ESPN.com that the NBA notified its 30 teams Monday via league memorandum that the Rockets were issued a formal warning because of “the team’s use of an adhesive substance on a player’s hands during a game.”
According to NBA rules, use of any adhesive substance “is strictly prohibited” and the term “during games” represents the period beginning 90 minutes before tipoff through the final buzzer.
Officials working Atlanta’s 109-97 victory Saturday night over Houston removed a game ball because Howard had applied Stickum spray to his hands from a can covered in white tape while waiting to re-enter the game late in the first quarter.
After Hawks forward Paul Millsap made the first of two free throws, Howard checked back in and grabbed the ball from the official. When Millsap got the ball back, he immediately questioned what was on it.
“I’ve never felt the ball like that — ever,” Millsap told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the game. “It was sticky. It was like Super Glue or something was on there. I couldn’t get it off my hands. It was the weirdest thing ever.”
Referee crew chief Monty McCutchen investigated before going to each bench and issuing a warning. According to the Journal-Constitution, McCutchen told each team: “Stickum is illegal in the NBA.”
The newspaper reported that Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff slid in front of the can, which was still at the scorer’s table, in an attempt to hide it before McCutchen approached Houston’s bench.
A member of the Rockets’ staff ultimately removed the can from the scorer’s table. Howard shot just 2-for-7 from the field in the loss and finished with eight points and 17 rebounds in 35 minutes.
But Howard was not penalized during the game and said afterward that he has openly sprayed the sticky substance on his hand for the past five years.
“I don’t know why people are making a big deal out of it,” Howard said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I do it every game. It’s not a big deal. I ain’t tripping.”
The league office, as part of its announcement to teams Monday, reminded teams that the only substances allowed to help players with gripping the ball are those that merely dry a player’s hands, such as resin, chalk and liquid chalk. A more detailed list of guidelines, according to the league, will be issued to teams and players in advance of the upcoming playoffs.
Information from ESPN.com news services and ESPN’s Calvin Watkins was used in this report.
