• Categories

    • Where did the Names of NBA Teams came from?

    by admin in NBA | Comments Off on Where did the Names of NBA Teams came from?

    Boston Celtics

    The word Celtics has a special siginificance for the Irish people. It implies the Irish heritage, culture ansd past. That’s why when Walter A. Brown formed a basketabll team in Boston, a city largely populated by Irish-Americans, he chose the nick name Celtics for the team to attract the Irish community. Also, the nickname pays a to tribute Original Celtics, a New York based basketball team of 1920s.

    Minnesota TimberWolves

    The franchise owners conducted a contest  and asked the fans to choose the best possible nickname for the team. Eventually two names were selected as the finilists, Timberwolves and Polars. Timberwolves was preferred over the Polars and rightly so as Minnesota is one of the natural habitats for wolves.

    New York Knicks

    New York Knicks are named after a style of clothing worn by dutch settlters who came to the New York in 1600s and wore trousers that rolled up just below the knees. These trousers were known as Knickerbocker or Knickers. This style of clothing became so popular that the natives were also called the Knickerbockers. When a New York based franshice was created in 1946, its founder Ned Irish decided to call it Knickerbocker. The franchise is commonly known as Knicks.

    Dallas Mavericks

    In 1980, NBA granted an expansion franchise to the city of Dallas. To selects its nickname a competition was conducted. Mavericks was the winning name in the competition, beating out the Wranglers and the Express. The nickname came from the TV show Mavericks, telecasted from 1957 to 1962.

    Detroit Pistons

    Detroit Pistons was founded in 1941 as the member of the National Basketball League. Formely, it was called Fort Wayne Pistons in reference to its owner’s business of piston maufacturing. In 1957, Pistons moved to Detroit, a city known for its automobile production. The franchise owner retained its nickname because it was appropriate with the new location as well.

    Brooklyn Nets

    The franchise was established in 1967 as New Jersey Americans. After one year, they moved to New York and became New York Nets. Could not find the reason why they were nicknamed the Nets other than to rhyme with other New York based teams, the Mets and the Jets. In 1977, they moved back to the New Jersey and became New Jersey Nets. Now the team is again in the New York region and they are called Brooklyn Nets.

    Philadelphia 76ers

    The franchise was formerly known as Syracuse Nationals. It was among those few teams who played in the NBL and then became a part of NBA. In 1963, they moved from Syracuse to Philadelphia. The shift in location brought a change in the nickname as well. The new owners held a contest to decide the team’s new nickname. The 76ers emerged as the winning entry, honoring the Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776 in Philadelphia.

    Sacramento Kings

    Sacramento King have gone through multiple geographical shifts throughout their history. They started from Rochester, then moved to Cincinnati and became Cincinnati Royals. Then  moved to Kansas City and named Kansas City Kings. They dropped the nickname Royals so as not to confuse it with Kansas City Royals, a baseball team in MLB. In 1985, they moved to Sacramento. Since then they are called Sacramento Kings.

    Utah Jazz

    New Orleans is known for its strong association with jazz music and it is considered to be the home of this jazz music. So Jazz was the most popular choice when NBA granted a team to the area of New Orleans. Due to financial crises, the owners decided to move the franchise to Salt Lake City, Utah . Though the city does not have any real conncetion with the jazz music, still the nickname was maintained.

    San Antonio Spurs

    San Antonio Spurs started out as the Dallas Chaparrals. In 1973, the franchise was sold to a group of businessmen who brought the franchsie to the San Antonio. Originally the franchise was going to be called Gunslingers but  before they could play a single game under the new name, the owners changed their decision and decided to select the name through name the team contest. They chose Spurs among all the entires because it repersents the cowboy image of the Texas region.




    Related posts

    Comments are closed.