NBA team names, they can be pretty odd. The Utah Jazz? The LA Lakers? So today, I'll go over how every NBA team got their name, enjoy! Before we get into it, please remember to like and flame! I worked really hard on this so I'd appreciate it for my 13,500 characters typed, thank you!
ATLANTA:
In 1948, the Tri-City area of Moline and Rock Island, IL and Davenport, IA got a team in the NBL. They were named the Blackhawks, in honour of the Sauk Indigenous Chief Black Hawk. When moving to Milwaukee in 1951, they shortened it to Hawks and the name stayed when they moved to St. Louis and eventually Atlanta in 1968.
BOSTON:
In 1946, the BAA gave Boston a team. Out of the numerous names which included Whirlwinds, Olympians and Unicorns (?), Celtics was selected. Walter Brown, the owner at the time, chose and liked the name, as the New York Celtics were a winning BAA franchise in the 1920s.
BROOKLYN:
In 1967, the ABA welcomed the New Jersey Americans and subsequently relocated to New York. They were re-named to the Nets, which coincidentally rhymed with 2 other NY teams, the Jets and Mets. In 1978, they moved back to New Jersey. In 1994, they heavily considered changing the name to the Swamp Dragons to up their marketing. Finally, in 2012, they moved to Brooklyn.
CHARLOTTE:
When Charlotte was awarded an NBA franchise in 2004, the finalists of a name-the-team contest hosted by the team, were the Bobcacts, Dragons and Flight. Owner Bob Johnson liked the name but many said it was showing how the NBA was running out of team name ideas. In 2014, the Bobcats were reunited with their original team name, the Hornets. But to get the team name Hornets? Back in 1987, George Shinn announced the team name would be the Spirit. But, many disliked it. So, the PTL club (a Christian TV program) ran a name-the-team contest which got over 9,000 entries but 6 finalists were chosen. These were the Knights, Spirit, Cougars, Crowns and Stars but the winner was the Hornets. And Chinn noted some history with Charlotte and Hornets, as a British commander referred to the Charlotte area as a "Hornet's nest of rebellion."
CHICAGO:
In 1966, the team owner Richard Klein was thinking of ideas for a name that showed Chicago was the meat capital of the world. Names such as the Matadors and Toreadors came up but his son suggested Bulls as a fitting name.
CLEVELAND:
In 1970, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer (a newspaper) had fans vote on a poll of names. There were a few options such as the Presidents (which nodded to the 7 US Presidents from Ohio), Jays, Forresters and Towers. The person who suggested the name Cavaliers, Jerry Tomko, said this about the name:
"Cavaliers represent a group of daring fearless men, whose life pact was never surrendered, no matter what the odds."
Fun fact! His son, Brett, went on to be an MLB pitcher.
DALLAS:
When the NBA added Dallas as an expansion team in 1980, a local Dallas radio station hosted a name-the-team contest and the finalists would suggest the names to owner Donald Carter. The Wranglers and Express were finalists but Mavericks won. The 41 fans who added Mavs as a name, won tickets to the season opener/team opener. One of those 41 people, Carla Springer won season tickets in a draw. Springer said this about the name Mavs:
"It represents the independent, flamboyant style of the Dallas people."
DENVER:
In the ABA, Denver's team was originally the Rockets. When Denver was planning on moving to the NBA in 1974, the Rockets were already taken by Houston so they settled on Nuggets, an allusion to the city's rich mining history and the Colorado Gold Rush of the 1850s and 1860s. It was chosen from a name-the-team contest.
DETROIT:
The Pistons team started out in Fort Wayne, IN, as the Zollner Pistons. The name was basically "A piston manufactured by the team-owner at the time, Fred Zollner." In 1957, when they relocated to Detroit, Zollner dropped his name from it and they were now the Detroit Pistons. This was very fitting, as Detroit is known as the Motor-City.
GOLDEN STATE:
In the inaugural 1947 season of the BAA, the Philadelphia Warriors won the championship. The name took inspiration from another successful basketball team in the 1920s of the ABL, also named the Philadelphia Warriors. In 1962, they moved to San Francisco and eventually in 1971, moved across the Bay to Oakland and became the Golden State Warriors, as we know them today.
INDIANA:
The Pacers original name was created by investors in 1967, especially attorney Richard Tinkham. The nickname references the deep history in auto racing in Indiana. Pacing is a term used to describe one of the major gaits in harness racing, whereas pace cars are utilized in auto races like the Indianapolis 500.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS:
In 1978, the NBA saw a pretty big shakeup as the Buffalo Braves moved to San Diego. The owners wanted a new team name to show a new era in their history and decided on Clippers. Clippers was a popular type of ship in the 19th century. San Diego already had a basketball franchise in the 70s in the ABA named the San Diego Conquistadors and then the Sails. Then, somebody bought the team in 1982 and relocated them in '84 to LA but kept the name.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS:
In LA, there are less than 10,000 lakes so why does the name occur? Well, in 1947, two investors relocated the Detroit Gems of the NBL to Minneapolis. But, they needed a name to really describe Minneapolis and it was perfect how they are dubbed "The Land of 10,000 Lakes." So the name was added. In 1960, they moved the team to Los Angeles for more popularity and traction and with the loads of history already happening for the team, they stuck with the name thus making the Los Angeles Lakers.
MEMPHIS:
In 1994, the NBA expanded global by adding 2 teams up north. One of these was Vancouver and the team was originally going to be called the Mounties. The RCMP and fans objected and instead, a local newspaper ran a contest to name the team. They chose Grizzlies over Ravens, as they are native to the area. When they moved to Memphis in 2002, FedEx had a deal set in line to pay them 100 million dollars to be renamed to the Memphis Express but the NBA declined the opportunity.
MIAMI:
In October of 1986, Miami's owner had an entry contest for the name. Stephanie Freed won as they suggested Heat, which was ultimately picked. Other top names of the 20,000 entries included Sharks, Barracudas, Tornadoes and Beaches.
MILWAUKEE:
Even though Milwaukee has a pretty big hunting tradition, the name wasn't originally supposed to be Bucks. It was the Robins. But they overruled it and selected Bucks. At least they didn't choose the 3rd option, which was the Skunks...
MINNESOTA:
1986 was a year for NBA expansion as Minnesota also got a team. The ownership group picked Timberwolves over Polars in a 2-1 vote. Tim Pope, one of the first people to nominate Timberwolves, won tickets to the All-Star game. Pope submitted 10 other names as well. He thought a 2-word team name would win and despite the Blizzard being a heavy favourite, he wanted something more original to the state.
NEW ORLEANS:
When Tom Benson bought New Orleans in 2012, the team changed the name almost immediately after. Marc J Spears reported that names such as the Krewe ("groups of costumed paraders in the annual Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans") and Brass were considered, but Pelicans fit the best as it's Louisiana's state bird.
NEW YORK:
During the 1600s, the word "knickerbockers" referred to Dutch settlers in the New World who wore their pants rolled up just below the knee. A cartoon depiction of Father Knickerbocker became a major emblem of the city, and many of these settlers found homes in and around New York City. The Knickerbocker Nine were baseball's first organised club in 1845, and the name was revived in 1946 when New York was granted a franchise in the Basketball Association of America. Ned Irish, the team's founder, is said to have chosen the name Knickerbockers after drawing it from a hat.
OKLAHOMA CITY:
The NBA was in shock as in 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City. Out of 64 options, fans voted on names such as the Barons, Renegades and Twisters but Thunder was the winner. The team set marketing records after the release of the name and many took it positively.
ORLANDO:
The Orlando Sentinel in 1986 held a team naming contest for the upcoming franchise heading to Orlando. The most popular team name? The Challengers, referencing the space shuttle that crashed in 1986. Other entries were the Floridians, Orbits, Astronauts, Aquamen, Sentinels and the undoubtedly best: Juice (get it, OJ like Orange Juice). But, the team officials picked Magic which is obviously talking about the big attraction of the city, Disney World.
PHILADELPHIA:
This one is pretty self-explanatory. In 1963, the Syracuse Nationals moved to Philly and the name 76ers was perfect, in honour of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776.
PHOENIX:
Despite only being 28 at the time, GM Jerry Colangelo deciding to run a contest to name a new Phoenix franchise and you're going to want to hear the name ideas. It came down to 4 main ones, the Rattlesnakes, Thunderbirds, Scorpions and the one that was selected: Suns. The fan who added it, won 1,000 dollars (which would be around $8,150 today) and season tickets. But the other entries were odd like the White Wing Doves, Sun Lovers, Cactus Giants and most importantly, the Dudes.
PORTLAND:
In 1970, Portland was added to the league through an expansion draft. Out of 10,000 entries, Pioneers was leading by a mile but was already taken up by nearby Lewis and Clark College. So they settled on another popular entry, Trail Blazers. Apparently, " the logo is supposed to represent five players on one team playing against five players from another team."
SACRAMENTO:
Sacramento's team has a pretty deep history with royalty. In 1945, the NBL introduced the Rochester Royals and they kept the name when moving to Cincinnati in 1957. After moving to Kansas City-Omaha (soon letting the Omaha part go away), they changed it to the Kings after a contest. And in '85, they moved to Sacramento and kept the Kings as the Sacramento Kings.
SAN ANTONIO:
In 1973, a group of SA investors bought the ABA's Dallas Chaparrals. Once they moved to the NBA in 1976, they held a contest to rename the team and with 5,000 entries and 500 different names submitted, the first decision was the Aztecs. But many teams used that name, so they settled with the Spurs.
Fun fact! Red McCombs, a major investor in the franchise was actually born in Spur, Texas.
TORONTO:
In 1994, Toronto's ownership group held a nationwide vote on the team name. Everyone I know that voted, voted for the Bobcats and Dragons (the other finalists) as Raptors was gimmicky just because the movie Jurassic Park was very popular. In fact, someone dug up a paper from the Toronto Star that included all the entries and here it is: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/bu7dly/other_potential_options_in_the_name_the_toronto/
(definitely recommend checking out).
The names are hilarious such as the Canadian Eh's, Blue Basketballs, Axis, Jaycees, John Candy (RIP), Sharp Shooters, Storm Troopers, TNT, Yorks and Timberwolves (which was already an NBA team name).
UTAH:
Honestly, Utah is very bare when it comes to jazz. The team was brought in from New Orleans in 1974 and relocated to Utah in 1979, but they decided to keep the name. The nickname was part of a contest which included other names such as the: Dukes, Crescents, Pilots, Deltas (Delta Airlines have a main hub in SLC, so that'd be fitting), Blues, Cajuns and Knights.
WASHINGTON:
In the early 1990s, Abe Pollin (Washington Bullets owner at the time) didn't like the name Bullets as it referenced gun violence. Pollin eventually took action and held a contest to name the franchise. The finalists were Express, Sea Dogs, Stallions and the eventual winners, Wizards, which they implemented for the 1997-98 season.
And that was it! Hopefully you learned something about your team or other ones and I must give a major shoutout to this article: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/23115/origins-all-30-nba-team-names
Thank you to them for their info and thanks for reading, bye!