The Philly Headband Bros: Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons

After the recent blockbuster trade which sent Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Sixers have been on fire. At his previous teams Butler has been known to be a bit of a disruptive force but since wearing a headband and with his no-nonsense attitude towards his teammates and coaching staff things are looking up.

So this time, he has a fresh start. Maybe he thought he needs to connect with his teammates early so they can all get along and play good basketball together and hopefully make it to the Eastern Conference Finals this year. So he has instantly formed the strongest of bonds with Ben Simmons, one of the other stars on the roster, by becoming his headband bro.

Jimmy and Ben have both started wearing headbands to games and practices, but not all the time. They will only wear headbands if they do it together i.e. if one of them is wearing a headband then the other one will also, and if one of them doesn’t then they both won’t.

When they were asked about their new fashion choices, Butler explained that the headbands go along with bets that they make with each other about defensive statistics. He seemed to suggest that if they were wearing headbands on a given night then it means that there is a bet on in that game between Butler and Simmons. The bets are usually centred on either steals or blocks but apparently can be other things too. Butler declined to answer how much or what they wagered but I’m sure it’s an embarrassingly large amount of money.

In the interview, Butler also expressed a few times that it was Simmons’ decision as to whether they wear the headbands on any given night. He seemed to really be trying to shift the blame just in case anything goes wrong. Although so far very little has gone wrong, with just their first loss of the Headband Bro era coming last night against the Raptors, who are potentially the best team in the NBA right now – so that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

The chemistry is clearly building between the two players as Simmons dished a sweet behind the back dime to Butler under the rim last night in the first quarter. Maybe this is a sign of the chemistry growing between the self-proclaimed brothers.

Another funny story to come out of all this is that JJ Redick is absolutely not allowed to take part in the betting. When a reporter asked if JJ Redick was allowed to take part in the betting if he wore a headband, Butler replied “JJ knows he can not wear a headband”. That is pretty savage from Jimmy, but also hilarious. But fair enough, I don’t think JJ Reddick would fare well in a competition for steals or blocks against the giants Simmons and Butler.

So when asked about whether anyone else at all could join the club, Jimmy said that you have to email either Ben or himself between 10:05am and 10:07am applying to be part of the Headband Bros. And then they will take your application into account. We assume this only applies to NBA players but if you can find an email for Jimmy Butler out there on the internet then I’d say it’s worth a shot.