{"id":437918,"date":"2023-10-14T06:14:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T06:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/?p=437918"},"modified":"2023-10-14T06:14:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T06:14:00","slug":"best-nba-player-nicknames-the-origin-story-basketball-reference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/best-nba-player-nicknames-the-origin-story-basketball-reference\/","title":{"rendered":"Best NBA Player Nicknames &#038; The Origin Story: Basketball Reference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Jordan was always the coolest person on the planet. As a result, it&#8217;s no wonder that he had some of the best nicknames ever: &#8220;Mike&#8221;, &#8220;MJ&#8221;, and &#8220;His Airness&#8221;. However, his finest moniker was &#8220;Air Jordan&#8221; since he spent the most of his time in the air. Jordan was a different type of athlete than the NBA had ever seen when he arrived in the mid-1980s. He might appear to float in the air and hang there till simple mortals returned to Earth.<\/p>\n<h2>Best NBA Player Nicknames &amp; The Origin Story<\/h2>\n<p>Thousands of these NBA nicknames, from famous to obscure, may be found on Basketball-Reference&#8217;s player pages. They are manually entered by a small crew led by Mike Lynch, Sports-Reference&#8217;s Director of Data.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After losing to the Magic in 95, 32yo Michael Jordan dedicated the next 32 months to nothing but winning.<\/p>\n<p>3 championships<br \/>3 Finals MVPs<br \/>2 League MVPs<br \/>3 scoring titles<br \/>3 All NBA 1st Teams<br \/>3 All NBA Defensive 1st Teams<br \/>0 games missed<\/p>\n<p>Mission accomplished by 35<br \/>No rivals \ud83d\udc10 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/K4gRVQmh7X\">pic.twitter.com\/K4gRVQmh7X<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Apex Jones (@ApexJones22) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ApexJones22\/status\/1712515297142296887?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Many of the nicknames displayed on player websites are never utilized in NBA conversation. LeBron James, Manu Ginobili, and Carmelo Anthony, for example, have songs like &#8220;The Little Emperor,&#8221; &#8220;Argentina&#8217;s Flying Man,&#8221; and &#8220;Sweet Melon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James, like all of the pantheon players, has a slew of nicknames: &#8220;The Chosen One&#8221; (which was tatted on his back as a youngster), &#8220;The Akron Hammer,&#8221; and, of course, &#8220;King James.&#8221; The reign of LeBron James over the NBA has been absurdly long and uniquely consistent &#8211; he averaged 28.9 PPG, 8.3 RPG and 6.8 APG in this, his 20th season. He&#8217;s also the NBA&#8217;s all-time leading scorer, which is one of the many records he holds.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LEBRON JAMES TONIGHT<br \/>\ud83d\udc51 18 minutes<br \/>\ud83d\udc51 12 points<br \/>\ud83d\udc51 5 assists<br \/>\ud83d\udc51 2 rebounds<br \/>\ud83d\udc51 4\/8 FG<\/p>\n<p>KING JAMES IS READY TO GO ON A DEEP RUN IN YEAR 21 \ud83d\udc10 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hdKitMzsm1\">pic.twitter.com\/hdKitMzsm1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LakersLead\/status\/1713041285961941327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Lloyd B. Free, one of the NBA&#8217;s early heat check scoring guards, had such a distinctive nickname &#8211; &#8220;World B. Free&#8221; &#8211; that he officially changed his first name to &#8220;World&#8221;. A buddy allegedly gave Free the moniker because of his propensity to bury deep shots from &#8220;around the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lynch and the rest of the Basketball-Reference staff are always on the lookout for new nicknames to include in the site&#8217;s database. Lynch has combed through old NBA encyclopedias, almanacs, and publications in order to restore some of the earlier nicknames that had been lost to time.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Going really old school here &#8211; one generation of Bibby\u2019s before yours. 1977 Sixers &#8211; Henry Bibby, World B Free, Dr. J, George McGinnis, and Chocolate Thunder &#8211; 6th man Doug Collins. Was must see TV when only 1 NBA game was on per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7HJeDCX8iW\">pic.twitter.com\/7HJeDCX8iW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Andy B (@andy_bower) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andy_bower\/status\/1712858049973572022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was this player from the [1940s and 1950s] named George Senesky, who, in multiple places, was referred to as &#8216;The Human Handcuff,'&#8221; Lynch said. &#8220;That was an era where steals weren&#8217;t even recorded, so it was neat to learn a player&#8217;s strengths and weaknesses through a nickname.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The old newspaper writers were almost like salesmen, selling the game with the way that they wrote. They really leaned on nicknames quite a bit, so you can pull some pretty cool stuff out of there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kobe Bryant takes over and hits the game-winning shot against the Hawks! (2013) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pWS6cGzyNz\">pic.twitter.com\/pWS6cGzyNz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThrowbackHoops\/status\/1711391436221169866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rafer Alston was a rare streetballer who was skilled enough (and disciplined enough) to make it to the NBA. His moniker, made popular by one of the earliest And-1 mixtapes, was &#8220;Skip 2 My Lou.&#8221; Alston had every move conceivable off the dribble, as well as some major flare, but he wisely toned it down during NBA play.<\/p>\n<p>Many nicknames make it onto the site as a result of this procedure, even if they are not well recognized or used. For example, &#8220;World B. Flat&#8221; was put to Kyrie Irving&#8217;s profile two years ago as a tribute to World B. Free and a nod to his previous comments on conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s such tremendous work by whoever came up with it,&#8221; he remarked. &#8220;It was cited in enough different places that it felt warranted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shaquille O&#39;Neal &amp; Allen Iverson are back with Reebok &amp; are now President and Vice President of basketball with the company \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JHZmKsjGXB\">pic.twitter.com\/JHZmKsjGXB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DailyLoud\/status\/1712483910645669956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>NBA broadcasts are yet another source of gold for the site&#8217;s database. Rajon Rondo got one of his nicknames from a Steve Smith piece on NBA TV.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Stacey King is a real gift to us,&#8221; Lynch said of the Bulls color commentator, who has given birth to nicknames like Thad &#8220;Thagic Johnson&#8221; Young, Jimmy &#8220;Jimmy G. Buckets&#8221; Butler, and Patrick &#8220;The Paw&#8221; Williams.<\/p>\n<p>The term &#8220;Black Mamba&#8221; was a little lame at first since Kobe Bryant gave it to himself. But after a while, it seemed too appropriate not to embrace. His work ethic was renowned, and his perfection &#8211; whether it was his footwork, movements, attacking angles, or anything &#8211; was as quick and lethal as his venomous snake reputation would imply.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">39 years ago today, Darryl Dawkins shattered his first backboard, introducing the NBA to Chocolate Thunder. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ywUonY5Qyh\">pic.twitter.com\/ywUonY5Qyh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ESPNNBA\/status\/1062344335302254592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In actuality, Shaquille O&#8217;Neal had so many nicknames linked with him that it was hard to pick the greatest one. Even the moniker &#8220;Shaq&#8221; is actually a nickname. Throughout his career, Shaq has a tendency of giving himself new hilarious\/ridiculous nicknames every few years, such as &#8220;The Big Aristotle&#8221;, &#8220;Superman&#8221;, &#8220;Shaq Daddy&#8221;, and &#8220;The Big Shamrock&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>In other cases, players choose their own nicknames. Darryl Dawkins, a favorite of Lynch&#8217;s, went by nicknames ranging from &#8220;Chocolate Thunder&#8221; to &#8220;Zandokan the Mad Dunker.&#8221; Dawkins, who claimed to be from the planet Lovetron, is one of the site&#8217;s nickname leaders, with 19 monikers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kevin Durant is the most skilled player of all time, I\u2019ll argue with anyone \ud83d\udc10 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AYulrQYXES\">pic.twitter.com\/AYulrQYXES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \ud835\ude1a\ud835\ude35\ud835\ude36\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude22\u2606 (@Stunna999_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Stunna999_\/status\/1712554357160661010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly, Kevin Durant has dismissed most of his media and fan-generated nicknames in favor of promoting himself as &#8220;The Servant.&#8221; That one is odd, and I don&#8217;t immediately think &#8220;Kevin Durant&#8221; when I hear it. Some of his other ones, such as &#8220;Slim Reaper,&#8221; &#8220;Durantula,&#8221; and even &#8220;Easy Money Sniper,&#8221; are far more relevant. Personally, I believe &#8220;Slim Reaper&#8221; is the greatest of the lot due to the manner in which he dispatches opponents with cold-blooded shots all around the court.<\/p>\n<p>The nickname sections on player pages can be amusing and goofy, but they also have a historical purpose, as does everything else on the site.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SKIP TO MY LOU!  <br \/>HBD streetball legend Rafer Alston <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aQLO6neUpB\">pic.twitter.com\/aQLO6neUpB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ballislife\/status\/1683462031947575296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We think of ourselves as a repository for facts,&#8221; Lynch went on to say. &#8220;A nickname is a secondary fact.&#8221; But we don&#8217;t want to remove pieces of history for no good reason.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most were first and last initial or something like &#8216;T-Mac&#8217;, &#8216;KG,&#8217; things like that,&#8221; Lynch went on to say.<\/p>\n<p>That trend is being reversed thanks to social media.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE-\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"NFL Insider Updates On Browns QB Deshaun Watson\u2019s Injury\u00a0\" href=\"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/nfl-insider-updates-on-browns-qb-deshaun-watsons-injury\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">NFL Insider Updates On Browns QB Deshaun Watson\u2019s Injury\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Jordan was always the coolest person on the planet. As a result, it&#8217;s no wonder that he had some of the best nicknames ever: &#8220;Mike&#8221;, &#8220;MJ&#8221;, and &#8220;His Airness&#8221;. However, his finest moniker was &#8220;Air Jordan&#8221; since he spent the most of his time in the air. Jordan was a different type of athlete [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":400323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[17116,3278,2215,17117,17115],"class_list":["post-437918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-best-nba-nick-names","tag-nba-2023","tag-nba-news","tag-nba-nick-names","tag-nba-player-nick-names"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}