Basketball Almanac › Why is it called that? NBA nickname origins
Why is it called that? NBA nickname origins
The best trivia in basketball is hiding in the team names — half of them only make sense in a city the team left.
| Team | Named for |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles Lakers | the 10,000 bodies of water in Minnesota, where the franchise began |
| Utah Jazz | the music New Orleans is famous for — the franchise began there |
| Memphis Grizzlies | the great bears of British Columbia — the franchise began in Vancouver |
| Detroit Pistons | a part inside a car engine, from the city’s auto industry |
| Philadelphia 76ers | the year the Declaration of Independence was signed |
| New York Knicks | the rolled-up trousers worn by Dutch settlers |
| Boston Celtics | Boston’s large Irish population |
| Denver Nuggets | the Colorado gold rush |
| Houston Rockets | the city’s space and NASA industry |
| San Antonio Spurs | Texas cowboy and Western heritage |
| Portland Trail Blazers | the pioneers who cut the first paths west across Oregon |
| Phoenix Suns | the blazing star over the Arizona desert |
| Miami Heat | south Florida’s tropical climate |
| Orlando Magic | the wonder of the theme parks the city is built around |
| Toronto Raptors | the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, huge when the team was named |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | the wild predator that still roams northern Minnesota |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | royalist horsemen of the English Civil War |
| Milwaukee Bucks | the deer that are plentiful in Wisconsin |
| Indiana Pacers | harness racing and the car that leads the Indy 500 field |
| New Orleans Pelicans | the state bird of Louisiana |
| Charlotte Hornets | a British general calling the city a stinging nest of rebellion |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | the violent storms the state is known for |
| Chicago Bulls | the city’s stockyards and meatpacking trade |
| Los Angeles Clippers | the fast sailing ships of San Diego harbour, where the team began |