That’s 29-year-old Pacers guard George Hill bleaching his hair above. Below is the finished product featuring a pic with the man, Sleetzy, who presumably did the bleach job. You’ll notice there’s a string of timepiece emojis (⌚⌚) in the above pic, which might call to mind a quarter-life crisis of some sort.
At 29, George is approaching NBA middle age, especially for backcourt players like Hill who rely more on quickness and speed than front court players. Below is the finished product:
Despite how odd it might look to Pacers fans, any mention of channeling Sisqó or Dennis Rodman seems like an overreaction to a pretty innocuous grooming decision. Hill’s just a 20-something still, experimenting with his hair color in the offseason. At least he didn’t do it during the playoffs where his team promptly got swept in the first round. Then it would be a distraction, but this is just a fun bit of offseason zaniness.
When the Spurs traded Hill to the Pacers for the rights to their first-round pick, Kawhi Leonard, in the summer of 2011, Gregg Popovich became “very emotional,” as Spurs general manager R.C. Buford recounted to Grantland.
Popovich has called Hill, “my favorite player for a whole lot of reasons,” and they still stay in touch years after the difficult decision was reached to deal him to Indiana for the rookie Leonard.
If Hill’s relationship with Pop, or his low-key on-court demeanor, is any indication, the choice to bleach his hair as about as far from Dennis Rodman or the “Thong Song” performer as you can get.
You do you, Georgie. We got you.
(H/T FTW)
