The Dallas Mavericks' newest addition, Caron Butler, made headlines this week when the NBA barred him from chewing straws during games.

During the Mavs' game against the Indiana Pacers on Monday (February 22), the entire team showed support for Butler by joining in on his straw-chewing habit -- including Dirk Nowitzki and even the announcers.

However, the NBA noticed and didn't like it.

NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson phoned Butler the following day (February 23) to tell him to stop, even though he's been chewing on straws during games since high school.

"It's against the rules," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said of the ban.

According to ESPN, Butler has been chewing straws at a rate of 12 per game. Via a chat on NBA.com in March 2009, he revealed that he started the habit as a teenager.

"It calmed me down," Butler said. "Then it became one of those things you keep doing."

This isn't Butler's only weird obsession. Late last year, he revealed that he was addicted to Mountain Dew.

Butler said he drank around six cans of the soft-drink per day, and when he tried to give it up, it was like having withdrawals from drugs.

"To try and give this up was CRAZY for me! I was going through withdrawals," he explained. "I was in the bed sweating. My wife would turn over in the bed and ask, 'Are you okay?' Honestly, those first two weeks without the Dew was the roughest two weeks of my life. I'm talking headaches, sweats and everything. Before that, I drank at least six 12-ounce Mountain Dews a day."

Butler became a Dallas Maverick just over a week ago from the Washington Wizards, as a part of a seven-player trade.