In a league where strategies and tactics have become more important in recent years, NBA players are constantly looking for any edge they can get, even if it means thinking completely outside the box.<\/p>\n
Few stories capture that mindset better than the wild admission from veteran\u00a0Steven Adams<\/a>, who is widely-regarded as one of the league’s toughest big men, who recalled a story of when he wanted to push the limits of the rulebook by asking if he could punch his nose until it bled to earn his team a timeout.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “The coach said not to. Look, you’re just utilizing the rules. It’s a blood timeout. You need to get a good play here,”\u00a0he shared.<\/p>\n Absurd logic<\/p>\n Known for his physicality and durability, Adams has built a reputation as a player who embraces contact more than others. But even by his standards, his idea really represented the lengths he’d go to help his team.<\/p>\n Despite the absurdity of Adams’ idea, it was still logical. In the NBA, a blood timeout is a legitimate stoppage in play when a player is bleeding and needs medical attention. The clock stops, and trainers step in to care for the player for around 30 seconds. The veteran big man knew this and saw it as a legitimate opportunity.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “Blood timeouts are 30-second timeouts. They have to tend to the blood. And I was talking to the coach, ’cause I told him I would like just punch my nose, I’ll crack my nose and then it will start to bleed, and then we’ll get a timeout,”\u00a0he recalled.<\/p>\n The action isn’t entirely irrational. Late in games, when teams are out of timeouts, desperation can really kick in, just like Jason Kidd’s\u00a0viral moment<\/a>\u00a0in the past when he asked his player to hit him so that he could spill his water cup, allowing for the stoppage in play.<\/p>\n While Kidd’s antics didn’t really pan out and resulted in a $50,000 fine, Adams’ was still in that vein of absurd but logical strategy to help his team. Still, his coach eventually thought better and prevented him from hurting himself.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “I thought in my mind, I was like, ‘Oh, he’ll look at me like what a great idea. You’re amazing.’ But then he was looking at me like his eyes were just like, ‘What the f\u2014k is wrong with this guy?’ Like the face didn’t match what I imagined,”\u00a0Adams said.<\/p>\n “I thought it was a good tactic,”\u00a0he added.\u00a0“We could have maybe drawn up something good.”<\/p>\n Related: “That’s really the story of my career\u201d – Tracy McGrady gets real about injuries and never reaching his peak potential<\/a><\/p>\n Fearless mentality<\/p>\n Adams’ admission shows why he has become such a valuable big man for all the teams he has suited up for. Aside from his paint skills, he has also carved out an identity as a locker room leader on and off the court.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n There have been numerous times where Adams has done it all for the sake of helping his team, even famously suffering through a kick to his groin by Draymond Green in the postseason, as well as being a constant enforcer during scuffles.<\/p>\n That mentality has defined Adams throughout his long NBA career. Whether it’s battling through injuries or even suggesting to break his nose just to buy his team a few extra seconds, the veteran center has always approached the game with a level of\u00a0toughness and sacrifice<\/a>\u00a0that teammates and franchises have and will always admire.<\/p>\n Related: “You get the guy who knows what to do with 100 mil” – Steven Adams shares how he kept a healthy relationship with money after earning a fortune in the NBA<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a league where strategies and tactics have become more important in recent years, NBA players are constantly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[13339,763,355,99,47940],"class_list":["post-630786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-draymond-green","tag-jason-kidd","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-steven-adams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}