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Richard Jefferson made Cavs rookie Kay Felder dress as an Oompa Loompa

ben rohrbach
Senior NBA writer
Just as you suspected, Kay Felder dressed as an Oompa Loompa on Wednesday night. (Snapchat)
Just as you suspected, Kay Felder dressed as an Oompa Loompa on Wednesday night. (Snapchat)

We’re not far removed from Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James putting Kay Felder in his place, telling anyone who would listen the team’s second-round pick in 2016 wasn’t capable of contributing in the playoffs, and Richard Jefferson figured that wasn’t enough of an embarrassment.

Prior to Cleveland’s final game before the All-Star break, Jefferson transformed his rookie teammate into “the world’s tallest Oompa Loompa” in the strangest of hazing rituals. The 16-year vet even made Felder dance around like a clown to the psychedelic song from “Willie Wonka” for a Snapchat video:

This is the latest video in what’s been an adventurous year on Snapchat for Jefferson, who retired (before un-retiring), leaked the Cavs’ championship ring design and paid for Sisqo’s “Thong Song” to play on a loop a dozen times before leaving a Cleveland-area bar on the social media service.

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The 36-year-old is apparently up for a Shorty Award, a real thing honoring social media’s “influencers,” and Jefferson made sure Felder plugged the fan vote before parading him into the locker room:

The NBA sent out a memo in 2013 clarifying its stance on rookie hazing in the wake of the NFL bullying scandal involving Miami Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. Those NBA rules:

Any physical abuse or threats of violence; verbal abuse focused on an individual’s race, nationality, color, gender, age, religion, sexuality, etc.; destruction, defacement or theft of a fellow player’s personal property; engaging in any activity that intimidates or threatens fellow players with ostracism or inflicts extreme mental stress, embarrassment, humiliation or shame; and forcing an individual to engage in any activity or perform any task that violates federal, state or local law or NBA rules and regulations.

I don’t know if wearing a costume qualifies as “extreme mental stress, embarrassment, humiliation or shame,” but turning the 5-foot-9 rookie into an Oompa Loompa sure got a laugh out of Kyle Korver:

Jefferson and Felder combined for all of two points in a 113-104 win over the Pacers on Wednesday.

We should probably note that former Golden State big man Adonal Foyle penned an open letter four years ago calling for the end of all hazing, which he said “takes a person who is already in a vulnerable position as a young athlete and humiliates them without any regard to the consequences of the act.” But that hasn’t stopped NBA teams, including his Warriors, from continuing the ritual:

An Open Practice tradition. Rookie initiation time! James Michael McAdoo going with a little Fresh Prince.

A post shared by Golden State Warriors (@warriors) on Oct 23, 2014 at 7:14pm PDT

Major League Baseball recently adjusted its hazing rules to outlaw vets from forcing rookies to dress as women, but as far as we know, there are no plans in the NBA to ban Oompa Loompa costumes.

At least for the viewers of Richard Jefferson’s Snapchat, that’s a good thing. But I’m not sure Felder qualifies as the world’s tallest Oompa Loompa, since there’s a taller one in the Oval Office right now.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!