Chinese Nicknames for NBA Players

[bigdave87]

This is superb

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[AdagioPace]

meh, "the german panzer tank" isn't fitting imho
Also: germans,wars, efficiency and other memes have been around since the 30s....they're not funny anymore honestly

Dirk is from Würzburg (Unterfranken, north Bavaria) which is a beautiful romantic town. He's a blonde giant who plays with finesse.

[DNP - Old]

Box out Mamba LMAO

[TacoLord]

Bump, here are some more:

Victor Oladipo 维克多奥拉迪波: Audi sounds like "O-di"

JR Smith JR史密斯: Neuroblade - because he is a streaky shooter

Tyronn Lue 泰伦卢: Tactic-genius - His super and only tactic is to give LeBron the ball.

Shaq O'neal 沙克奥尼尔: Big shark

Dennis Smith Jr. 小丹尼斯史密斯: Television - Acronym of his name "DSJ" is the acronym of television in Chinese.

Chris Paul 克里斯保罗: Triple-cannon - triple for his jersey number 3 and "Paul" sounds like cannon.

Clint Capela 克林特卡佩拉: The Cake King/Emperor - He a lot of alley oops from Harden and Paul, which makes it a piece of cake. Some refer to this as "feeding cake"

Steph Curry - God of Cuteness

LeBron James 勒布朗詹姆斯: The Young Emperor - Likely mistranslation of "King"

Anthony Davis - Thick brow

Khris Middleton - Rice and Bean

Zach Randolph - “Big Bear”

Kyle Lowry - Small Tank

Ray Allen - "Ray the Gentleman"

Tony Parker - french sports car

Damian Lillard - Rogue because he makes crazy shots


Deadspin did a longer article on some of the more interesting ones. Read it here: https://deadspin.com/sprout-god-porcelain-mamba-and-six-step-lebron-the-s-1825949113

[Durant Durant]

god of cuteness? lol

[Mickey8]

Eric Gordon is a moon face.

[thomchatt3rton]

Whats story behind “rice and bean” for Middleton, I wonder


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[TacoLord]

Whats story behind “rice and bean” for Middleton, I wonder


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

It's something to do with the translation of the word "Middleton" it doesn't actually have anything to do with the player.

[thomchatt3rton]

Whats story behind “rice and bean” for Middleton, I wonder


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

It's something to do with the translation of the word "Middleton" it doesn't actually have anything to do with the player.

Thats what I would’ve guessed, thanks.

ETA: It somehow seems appropriate to me. Of course I have no idea what rice and beans means in cultural terms in China.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[thomchatt3rton]

I loved reading these. One of my fav things about basketball is how its been embraced internationally and the flavor this adds to the game.

Makes me proud!


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[GeorgeMarcus]

Rice and bean, lol

[TacoLord]

Bored offseason bump! I copied more names and such below. These are from @nick_Kapur on Twitter, who did the original translations and explanations 4 years ago. I still find these names amusing, and would love to see more for newer players if anyone has a lead. Fun stuff, enjoy the offseason!

Read on Twitter

When the Lakers signed Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov to absurdly expensive deals prior to the 16-17 season and both proceeded to play terribly, Chinese fans took to calling them "Deng, the British Jordan" (鄧英喬) and "Mozgov, Championship Center" (莫冠鋒). Both of these statements were factually true, as Mozgov had been the starting center on a championship team, and Deng may well be the greatest basketball player to come out of the UK. But the sarcasm was so delicious.

Ben Simmons is called "Mattress" (席梦思) Many Chinese people explain that this is because a Chinese word for mattress happens to sound like "Simmons." But the connection is actually much more direct! It turns out that even many Chinese people don't realize that this word for "mattress" originally came from the Chinese name of the Simmons mattress company. It has become genericized like Kleenex or Jacuzzi. So Simmons sounds like Simmons because they are both Simmons!

Rajon Rondo - 真中锋 "A True Center" Because despite playing guard, Rondo is terrible at three-pointers and free throws, scores almost all of his points in the paint, and brings down large numbers of rebounds.

Alonzo Mourning - 肾斗士 "The Kidney Warrior" Because he kept playing well, even after a kidney transplant. This is a pun: "Kidney Warrior" (shen dou shi) sounds like the "saints" 圣斗士 (sheng dou shi) in the Japanese manga "Saint Seiya"

Vince Carter - 半神 "The Demigod" - Literally "half god" - this was a lazy attempt to translate "Half Man, Half Amazing"

Some LeBron haters feel that LeBron not only gets away with traveling, but also too often is awarded free throws for minimal touching, so they’ve nicknamed him “Zhan Tianyou” (詹天佑) which is the name of a famous Chinese railroad engineer in the 1800s, but also means “Heaven Protects James.” “Heaven,” in this case, alludes to the NBA commissioner.

J.R. Smith is called “The Psychotic Blade” (神经刀) because he is so unpredictable and inconsistent. Will he hurt you? Will he hurt himself? Who knows? This is a reference to the title of a 1969 Hong Kong film about a mentally unstable martial artist, and the term has been applied to other athletes who seem to alternate between brilliant and terrible, including footballers Mario Balotelli and Fernando Torres, and table tennis player Ai Fukuhara.

Kevin Love is simply the “Love God” (爱神), but when Chinese fans feel he is playing too “soft,” they are quick to change this to “Love Goddess” (爱女神) by inserting the character for “female.”

Kevin Durant was called “Schoolbag Du” (书包杜) when he was younger, because of his tendency to wear a backpack to press conferences (Du is short for “Durant”). Later in his career, and especially after he joined the Warriors, he became known as the “God of Death” (死神). This nicknamed derived from a famous image of Durant as the Grim Reaper and speaks to his relentless scoring and determination to end games with game winning shots that the Chinese also call “daggers” and which they refer to as “killing” the game.


Andre Iguodala was originally called “AI Jr.” (小AI) because when he came into the league he was another player with the initials “A.I.” playing on the Sixers alongside Allen Iverson. But nowadays he is called the “Coffin Mamba” (棺曼巴), a parody of Kobe Bryant’s “Black Mamba” nickname which could also be translated here as “Undead Mamba” or “Vampire Mamba.” Chinese fans feel he plays like an old man in the regular season, but then suddenly comes back to life in the playoffs. This annual transformation is known as “opening the coffin lid” (打开棺盖).

Draymond Green is called “Chasing Dreams” (追梦), because “chasing dreams” (Zhui Meng) sounds a lot like “Draymond.” It can also allude to Green’s unlikely path to stardom after being selected with the 35th pick in the second round of the draft.

JaVale McGee is the “Gaffe God” (囧神). The first character (囧) means a kind of window, but has recently been used in Chinese internet culture as an emoji representing an embarrassed and apologetic face.

Zaza Pachulia is 渣渣 (pronounced Zha Zha), which sounds like his first name but also means something like “dregs of the earth,” due to his perceived dirty play.

Chris Paul, meanwhile, is usually called “Cannon” (炮, Pao), because it sounds like “Paul,” so after he joined forces with Harden on Rockets, Harden and Paul were collectively called “Light Bulb” (灯炮), which is the Chinese word you get when you combine “lamp” (灯) and “cannon” (炮).

Terry Rozier is called “Biological Son” (亲儿子) or “The Crown Prince” (太子) because Celtics GM Danny Ainge is so reluctant to trade him that he must be Ainge’s biological son or the heir to his kingdom. This is even funnier than it sounds because these same nicknames had been used previously for Austin Rivers, who of course is Doc Rivers’ actual biological son. So in other words people are saying that Rozier is Danny Ainge’s Austin Rivers.

Marcus Smart is nicknamed “Sma-Brick” (司马钢) because of his low shooting percentage. The first two characters are the extremely common Chinese surname “Sima,” which sounds like the beginning of “Smart,” and the third character is “iron,” which is a Chinese slang term for a badly missed shot (a “brick”).

Jayson Tatum is called “Rex Rabbit” (獭兔, Ta Tu, a type of rabbit) because it sounds like “Tatum,” but many people exchange the first character (獭, meaning “otter”) for an extremely similar character that means “lazy” (懒), and instead just call Tatum the “Lazy Rabbit” (懒兔).

Jaylen Brown is nicknamed 杰伦 (Jie Lun) because it sounds like “Jaylen” and also because it is the Chinese given name of the massively popular Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou (周杰伦).

Al Horford is “The Cook” (伙夫, Huo Fu) because it sounds like “Horford.”

The Chinese nickname for Nikola Jokic is "Fat Cola" - 肥可樂 This is a play on his first name and the fact that he used to drink three liters of coke per day

Zach LaVine - 文天祥 "Zach Skywalker" This one is hard to translate. Wen Tianxiang (文天祥) was a beloved Chinese patriot famous for rebelling against the Mongol Empire in the 1200's. But 文天祥 also sounds the same as "Levine Soars through the Sky" (文天翔) So although LaVine's Chinese nickname is simply "Wen Tianxiang," to capture this double pun in English, I've translated it as "Zack Skywalker" to similarly convey LaVine's aerial ability while punning on the name of a beloved cultural figure who fought against an evil empire.

When he was young, Manu Ginobili was sometimes called the "Pampas Eagle" (潘帕斯雄鹰) after the Pampas plain in Argentina. But after he went bald, people started calling him the "Pampas Condor" (潘帕斯禿鹰), because the Chinese word for "condor" is literally "bald eagle"

Zach Randolph - 烂豆腐 "Mashed Tofu" Because the pronunciation of these characters (lan dou fu) sounds like "Randolph" and also because Randolph's slightly chubby frame reminds people of mashed tofu

Russell Westbrook - 忍者龟 "The Ninja Turtle" Because people think he looks just like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle


Some Chinese netizens also call Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum the "New Trash Brothers" (新垃圾兄弟), due to their penchant for flaming out in the early rounds of the playoffs just like the original "Trash Brothers" DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry

Bill Russell - 指环王 "The Lord of the Rings" Because he has the most championship rings. This is also the same characters used for the J.R.R. Tolkien books and films.

Danny Green has too many nicknames but most of them are beyond translation. The meanings of them, however, are the same. “Blacksmith Dan”. Cuz he always misses his shots and the sound of ball hitting the rim is just like a blacksmith working.

Blake Griffin was called "Terrifin" (给力芬) when he first came into the NBA and wowed with his massive dunks. This combined the Chinese word meaning "terrific, awesome, powerful" (给力) with the last character of "Griffin" (芬) and also sounded like "Griffin" (gei li fen) However in later years, as Blake Griffin's game declined, people took to calling him "Short Fin" (短芬), a reference to his unusually small wingspan for a person of his height

Andrew Wiggins is “Scarf” for pronunciation, and haters said that he could "play like Vince Carter in his 20s but he always played like Calderon in his 80s." Just like an old man who uses a scarf all year round.

Of course they also made cruel memes about it:


Another nickname for Dirk Nowitzki is "Silver Horned King" (银角大王), a demon in the classic Chinese saga "Journey to the West"
This is because people think Dirk looks just like this demon as it appeared in a famous TV drama version of the tale:


Adrian Wojnarowski is called "Fertility God" (沃神) for his incredible fecundity in breaking NBA scoops. This is a pun, because the character for fertility (沃), pronounced "wò," is used as the first character in the Chinese transliteration of "Wojnarowski."

[tbhawksfan1]

meh, "the german panzer tank" isn't fitting imho
Also: germans,wars, efficiency and other memes have been around since the 30s....they're not funny anymore honestly

Dirk is from Würzburg (Unterfranken, north Bavaria) which is a beautiful romantic town. He's a blonde giant who plays with finesse.

I worked in Wurzburg for a couple of years and my EXXXXX wife and son were born less than 30 miles from there. Most in the know would agree that German and romantic are not things that go togeather

[BK_2020]

meh, "the german panzer tank" isn't fitting imho
Also: germans,wars, efficiency and other memes have been around since the 30s....they're not funny anymore honestly

Dirk is from Würzburg (Unterfranken, north Bavaria) which is a beautiful romantic town. He's a blonde giant who plays with finesse.

I worked in Wurzburg for a couple of years and my EXXXXX wife and son were born less than 30 miles from there. Most in the know would agree that German and romantic are not things that go togeather

Germany is literally the country hat invented romanticism.


Sent from my iPad using RealGM mobile app

[walk with me]

They need to do a 2022 refresher… this was hilarious when I first read it and still is.

Would love to hear 2022 nicknames for

Trey young
Luka
Zion
Scottie Barnes
Jimmy butler
2022 lebron
Jason Tatum
Marcus smart
Devin Booker

[wegotthabeet]

Fat Cola is the best one. That's way better than Joker or whatever his English nickname is.

[tbhawksfan1]

meh, "the german panzer tank" isn't fitting imho
Also: germans,wars, efficiency and other memes have been around since the 30s....they're not funny anymore honestly

Dirk is from Würzburg (Unterfranken, north Bavaria) which is a beautiful romantic town. He's a blonde giant who plays with finesse.

I worked in Wurzburg for a couple of years and my EXXXXX wife and son were born less than 30 miles from there. Most in the know would agree that German and romantic are not things that go togeather

Germany is literally the country hat invented romanticism.


Sent from my iPad using RealGM mobile app

Romanticism was an artistic mouvement nearly 300 years ago and has zero to do with how romantic German people and culture are. In Europe the Germans are best known for driving fast on the autobahn and wearing socks with sandales. How sexy is that?

If you want to talk about romantic people, culture or counties in Europe you think about Italy, France and maybe Spain. Definately not Germany

[Heej]

Demon Blade still top 1. And Jordan being the boss of Beggars Sect is hilarious. I've definitely seen that trope before in eastern media where all the homeless people are actually part of a well informed underground network that watches over shady dealings in the underworld and what goes on in general above ground.

[Clav]

Box out Mamba LMAO

this one is kililng me too

[mediocrityrules]

The "no-eyebrow knight" gets me every time.