{"id":519367,"date":"2026-01-16T02:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/519367\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T02:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:52:11","slug":"wembanyama-keldon-johnson-shave-each-others-heads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/519367\/","title":{"rendered":"Wembanyama, Keldon Johnson shave each other\u2019s heads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2006241\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2006241\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2255824854-scaled-e1768528001839.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1707\" height=\"960\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2006241\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victor Wembanyama debuts a fresh cut \u2013 or, more accurately: a shave \u2013 prior to Thursday\u2019s game against the Bucks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Editor\u2019s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/nba\/?source=athletic_nba_content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><strong>SAN ANTONIO \u2014<\/strong> De\u2019Aaron Fox didn\u2019t even know why it happened. When he arrived at Spurs practice on Thursday, he saw the two faces of his team: Keldon Johnson and Victor Wembanyama. What he didn\u2019t see was any hair on their heads.<\/p>\n<p>After landing home from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/sas-vs-okc-0022500568\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">their 119-98 loss<\/a> to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Johnson and Wembanyama did what anyone would do after a tough day at work: They shaved their heads bald.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBad things happen, I guess, when we lose to OKC,\u201d Fox said. \u201cWe landed. They got in Vic\u2019s car and started shaving their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Johnson had to share his side of the story. He\u2019s never been shy of the mic, and he\u2019s never missed an opportunity to join in on some fun. It turns out that Johnson was jealous that his best friends were bald and he just wanted to be like them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I told all my teammates I was going to bald my head,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe had a TV game, so I couldn\u2019t bald my head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The OKC loss on NBC presented the perfect time for a fresh start. The Spurs were on top of the NBA world when they beat the Thunder three times in 12 days during December but have fallen back to earth over their last 10 games. They are 4-6 since beating the Thunder on Christmas and have ceded the second seed in the Western Conference back to the Denver Nuggets. After Wembanyama took a beating against the Thunder, it was time to switch something up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen last night, Vic was like, \u2018Yo, let\u2019s bald our head.\u2019 I was like, \u2018S\u2014, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking for a reason to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Keldon Johnson explains that he and Victor Wembanyama shaved each other\u2019s heads: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast night, Vic was like, \u2018Yo, let&#8217;s bald our head.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Shit, let&#8217;s do it. \u2018 I mean, I&#8217;ve been looking for a reason to do it.\u201c <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UTAMN66l7F\">pic.twitter.com\/UTAMN66l7F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JaredWeissNBA\/status\/2011872435709137017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When they got off the plane, they obtained some clippers and got to work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVic bald my hair, and I bald his hair. No ladder,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut you know I got to work on my skills a bit, my clippers. I might be a barber when it\u2019s all said and done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barbers have different styles.<\/strong> Some make it an adventure along the way, and some just get the job done as quickly as they can. Some are quiet, and some won\u2019t shut up. It won\u2019t be hard to guess which camp Johnson falls into.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took me a little bit. I was trying to be cautious, \u2019cause he got hit. He had a knot on his head,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cSo I was trying to make sure everything was smooth. I take my time. I had to fade it up a little bit at first, then I gave him a little bowl cut, then we just went from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the other end of the spectrum was Wembanyama, who knew he had to move quickly to take advantage of a moment of calm from his teammate. Johnson admitted he was jittery after the game \u2014 as he always is \u2014 but was chill when it was time to go bald.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe did good. He was quick with it. No lie, Vic probably took three minutes,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBoom, boom, boom, knock it all down. I was like, \u2018Wow!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>While Johnson was inspired by his friends<\/strong>, Wembanyama actually went bald this summer when he was training with Shaolin monks in China.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one saw Vic (in person) when he did it during the summer. We just saw pictures. But this? I have nothing to say about this,\u201d Fox said facetiously.<\/p>\n<p>Count on Johnson to give his teammates what they need, even if it may not be what they want. He is an unavoidable presence in the locker room and on the court. The first to rip a shirt off his back for his teammates, although he\u2019s usually not wearing a shirt anyway.<\/p>\n<p>He might need to start dressing for warmth a bit more now. The only downside to Johnson\u2019s decision is that it got cold in San Antonio once he returned, with overnight lows in the 30s. While he knows what to do with his body on the court and in the gym, his head is having a hard time figuring out how to regulate his body temperature.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThis (is) the first time my head\u2019s been sweating,\u201d<\/strong> Johnson said. \u201cMy head\u2019s cold. I\u2019ve been trying to keep the skully on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs had some impressive consistency in the first third of the season, even without their biggest star missing significant time. Johnson\u2019s persistently good vibes, and even his singing voice, helped them maintain focus while having fun.<\/p>\n<p>Times are getting tougher lately as they reach the part of the season when many young teams hit the wall. But Johnson won\u2019t let that take away their joy. He loves doing things together. He wouldn\u2019t even shave his head until a teammate joined in. The player who has been with the Spurs the longest remains a key part of the team because his favorite part of his job is being part of the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wake up every day, and I enjoy coming to work and being here with this group,\u201d Jonson said. \u201cLearning, laughing, joking, going through the good times and the bad times, I feel like that\u2019s what builds real bonds right there. I feel like this group has been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_utilitySansRegularLarge__4JpgE inherit Typography_base__jzSqr\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/author\/jared-weiss\/\" aria-label=\"Jared Weiss&#039;s Author Page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jared Weiss<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is a staff writer covering the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama for The Athletic. He has covered the Celtics since 2011, co-founding CLNS Media Network while in college before covering the team for SB Nation\u2019s CelticsBlog and USA Today. Before coming to The Athletic, Weiss spent a decade working for the government, primarily as a compliance bank regulator.\u00a0Follow Jared on Twitter\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JaredWeissNBA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-label=\"Follow Jared on Twitter\">@JaredWeissNBA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama debuts a fresh cut \u2013 or, more accurately: a shave \u2013 prior to Thursday\u2019s game against&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":519368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1260,62,67,132,68,231336],"class_list":{"0":"post-519367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-victor-wembanyama-haircut"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115902516372848762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}