In basketball, they say you have to put your body on the line. Some players took this a bit too literally and added their teeth to the toll. Elbows, awkward falls, and collisions with teammates have created stories that sent the protagonists straight from the hardwood to the dentist — sometimes with a brief detour to lift a trophy.
Kendrick Nunn: Three teeth for a championship
Game 5 of the 2024 finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos had tension, suspense, and a championship awaiting the winner. However, it also featured a collision between teammates that probably wasn’t part of Ergin Ataman’s game plan. In the fourth quarter, Kendrick Nunn and Jerian Grant went for the same rebound, with the latter’s elbow forcefully catching the former in the face.
Nunn stayed down holding his mouth, while a few meters away Grant was nursing his elbow. The aftermath was a bandaged arm for one and three broken teeth for the other. Both returned to action, because a Game 5 isn’t exactly the best time to look for an on-call dentist. Panathinaikos won 87-82, completing the comeback from a 0-2 deficit, and Nunn celebrated the championship with a noticeably altered smile. Small price, big title.
Carl Landry: When his teeth ended up in Nowitzki’s elbow
Some collisions have no real winner. On December 18, 2009, Carl Landry tried to draw an offensive foul on Dirk Nowitzki, stepping in front of him as the German drove to the basket. Landry’s mouth met Nowitzki’s elbow, and what followed looked more like a hospital ER incident than an NBA game.
The Rockets forward suffered damage to five teeth, with fragments from two of them getting lodged in Nowitzki’s elbow. Doctors had to open the German’s wound twice to clean it, while Landry required five hours of dental surgery. A few days later, both returned to action, scoring 27 points each in their respective games. Obviously, because the story wasn’t bizarre enough already.
Isaiah Thomas: Lost the tooth, kept the 53 points
In Game 1 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Isaiah Thomas was chasing Otto Porter around a screen when his mouth landed on his opponent’s elbow. His front tooth flew out and landed near the three-point line. Thomas spotted it, handed it to the Celtics’ athletic trainer, and kept playing as if he had merely lost a contact lens.
Attempts to reattach the tooth failed, but Thomas scored 33 points and led Boston to a comeback from a 17-point deficit against the Wizards. Hours of dental procedures followed, but two days later he returned and dropped 53 points in an overtime win in Game 2. It was the birthday of his late sister, Chyna, and he dedicated one of the greatest performances of his career to her. The tooth wasn’t saved. The night, however, went down in history.
Goran Dragic: Tossed it to the bench and played on
Goran Dragic had a rather unusual relationship with his teeth during the 2015-16 season. In December, he lost one against the Atlanta Hawks, and a few months later, history repeated itself. In a Heat matchup against the Pistons, Spencer Dinwiddie’s hand caught him in the face, prompting yet another tooth to abandon its post.
The Slovenian pulled it out of his mouth, showed it to the referee while asking for a foul, and, after failing to evoke much sympathy, tossed it toward the bench and kept playing. Miami got the win, and Dragic finished the game as usual. No panic, no drama. Just a tooth on the sideline and an appointment that was likely booked under “urgent.”
Derrick White: “I’d lose all my teeth for a championship”
In Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals, Derrick White dove for a loose ball and collided with Dereck Lively, falling face-first onto the hardwood. His front tooth chipped, but the Celtics guard quickly returned to the game. Jaylen Brown, being a properly supportive teammate, looked at him on the bench and told him he had gotten… ugly.
White finished the game with 14 points and eight rebounds, helping Boston defeat the Mavericks 106-88 and capture the 18th championship in franchise history. A little later, with the trophy now in front of him, he made it clear that he would lose all his teeth for a title. Fortunately for him, the toll stopped at one. The dentist’s bill, on the other hand, is another story.