Why Does Reggie Jackson Wear Goggles? He Once Injured an Eye

Reggie Jackson is a part of the 2023 Denver Nuggets team contending for a title, but why does he wear goggles whenever he plays in a game?

Jun. 8 2023, Published 1:43 p.m. ET

Throughout his career in the NBA, Reggie Jackson has proven himself to be a key supporting player on a number of different teams. He first joined the league in 2011 and played from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, 12 years later, Reggie is playing for the Denver Nuggets as they contend for their first title in team history.

Reggie has not seen any playing time in these finals, but some fans are nonetheless curious why Reggie seems to wear goggles whenever he goes into a game.

Goggles are not uncommon among players in the NBA, even if most players choose not to wear them. In fact, Reggie has not worn goggles throughout his whole career. He started wearing them in 2019 when he was playing for the Los Angeles Clippers and sustained an eye injury during a game against the Phoenix Suns. During the game, Reggie was accidentally scratched in the eye by an opposing player.

After he sustained the injury, he dealt with blurry vision that obviously made it difficult for him to play. Reggie initially started wearing goggles while he was recovering from that injury, and has since continued to wear them as a precautionary measure.

That's usually the reason that most NBA players choose to wear them. Either they have suffered from an eye injury in the past, or they are trying to prevent suffering from one in the future.

Goggles can also enhance vision on the court for some players by improving contrast or eliminating glares. Other times, players wear goggles because they require glasses to see properly, and goggles often work better on the court than glasses would.

Although he has never been the star on any of the teams he's been on, Reggie has proven to be a productive role player throughout his tenure in the NBA. Most recently, he helped lead the Los Angeles Clippers to their first appearance in the Western Conference Finals, where they ultimately lost to the Phoenix Suns. Now that he's with Denver, though, Reggie has seen slightly reduced minutes.

Reggie's injury isn't exactly an outlier in the NBA, where players spend a lot of time in close contact with one another, and one misplaced limb can lead to unintended injuries. What makes eye injuries especially frustrating, though, is that they don't have to be particularly severe to be debilitating for a player.

Vision is so crucial to a player's ability to play that even an eye that is just watering too much can keep them out of the game. Players almost never go after one another's eyes intentionally, but in a game that can get as physical as basketball, sometimes an eye gets taken out by mistake.