Watch: Paul George delivers a ‘wedgie’ in the clutch

With the L.A. Clippers trailing the Denver Nuggets 111-108, George put up a 25-footer that got lodged between the rim and the backboard - a classic “wedgie.” That resulted in a jump ball, and the clock ran out on the Clippers’ effort.

A wedgie is a rare sight in the NBA, and especially rare in a clutch moment. It’s a delicate phenomenon. A player has to miss a shot, but not so badly that there’s a rebound, and miss softly enough that the ball sticks. Game play stops, and it leads to a jump ball.

The “No Dunks” podcast regularly tracks and celebrates the wedgie, and is perhaps most responsible for the internet’s growing wedgie awareness.

There have been some unusual wedgie moments in recent memory. In the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, a first-round game between Illinois and Arkansas featured two wedgies in less than three minutes.

In 2021, Reggie Jackson put up wedgies on consecutive shots during an overtime game while playing for the Clippers, an even rarer feat than the Des Moines double wedgie.

But wedgies come in cycles, which is why it was so poetic that Jackson corralled the tip after Nikola Jokic won the post-wedgie jump ball from Ivica Zubac. Perhaps time is a flat circle, and that flat circle is wedged between the rim and the backboard.