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    by admin in NBA | Comments Off on Nicknames of NBA Teams

    When you look in to the history of  NBA team nicknames, you will find differernt stories and different reasons behind each of them. Some get their name from the city in which they originated in. usually the older teams, they stayed with their original nickname even when they moved to somewhere else. While, most expansion teams have got their nickname through name the team contest but one thing is sure whatever option is  selected as nickname it has some significant importance for the city they are located in.

    Let’s take a look at how each NBA team got its nickname.

    Los Angeles Lakers

    The team was founded in Minneapolis and it was named Lakers in reference to the nickname of the Minnesota state “ The Land of 10,000 Lakes”. Team owners decided to stick with the same nickname whey they moved to the Los Angeles in 1960.

    Chicago Bulls

    Chicao bulls were founded in 1966. The owner of team Dick Klein was looking for a name which illustrates the qualities he supposed to have in his team such as strength, tenacity and toughness. He was considering Matadors and Toreadors but ended up naming his team Chicago Bulls.

    Miami Heat

    To decide the name of the franchise, owners held a contest. They received many submissions from the fans in which they found the Heat most suitable because of the warm weather of the region.

    Milwaukee Bucks

    Milwaukee Bucks got its nickname through a team-naming contest, conducted in 1968. Among many options such as Skunks, Hornets, Stags, Ponies and Stallions, judges picked the name Bucks for the franchise because it sounds more relevent to the wildlife resources in the area.

    Portland Trail Blazers

    Portland was founded in 1970 as an expansion franchise. The officials decided to select the team nick name through a naming contest. They received more than 10,000 entries in which The Pioneers came out as the top choice . But as this option was already been used by another team (Lewis and Clark College, Portland), so they decided to go with the second most popular choice, the Trail Blazers.

    Cleveland Cavaliers

    The management of Cleveland conducted Name the Team contest in which The Cavaliers was the entry voted by most of the fans. Jerry Tomko was the person who suggested this option. According to him, “Cavaliers represent a group of daring fearless men, whose life pact was never surrender, no matter what the odds.” Most properly this nickname was inspired by a cavalryman George A. Custer who was born in Ohio.

    Denver Nuggets

    Before entering the NBA, Denver Nuggets used to play in ABA and they were called Denver Rockets at that time. In 1974, when they were expected to join NBA, they thought to rename their team because Rockets was already the nickname of the Houston franchise. So, they picked Nuggets, a nickname inspired by the original Denver Nuggets who played from 1948 to 1950.

    Atlanta Hawks

    The franchise have changed many nicknames throughout their history. They Started as Baffalo Bisons in 1946, Very next year, they moved to Moline, Illinois and called Tri-City BlackHawks in honor of Native American Sauk leader, Black Hawk. In 1951, they relocated to Milwaukee and used a shortened name Hawks for themeselves. The name stayed with them when they moved to St. Louis and eventually to Atlanta.

    Charlotte Bobcats

    Charlotte Bobcats were founded in 2004. Their nickname Bobcats was chosen in a naming contest in which1,250 suggestions were proposed by the fans. Besides Bobcats, Flight and Dragon were the other top choices. Bobcats was the obvious choice as according to the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, Bobcat is an athletic, fierce and indigenous predator to the Carolinas.

    Golden State Warriors

    The franchise has gone through many changes in locations, from Philadelphia to San Francisco and finally to Oakland but they maintained their nick name every time. Many believes they took the nick name Warriors from the Philadelphia Warriors of 1920s (ABL).




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