The Lakers, Jazz, and others

Basketball: Where do the names of the NBA teams come from?

Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum(Bild: AFP/APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Kevin C. Cox)

The NBA (National Basketball Association) playoffs are in full swing, prompting the question once again: how did the teams actually get their names? What’s behind names like “Celtics,” “Bulls,” and “Nuggets,” and what does Los Angeles have to do with lakes?

The North American professional league was founded in 1946 and has since been considered the strongest and most popular in the world. Twenty-nine teams from the U.S. and one Canadian team (the Toronto Raptors) compete annually for the coveted championship rings. The reigning champions are the Milwaukee Bucks. But where do the names “Bucks” and those of their opponents come from? Sportkrone explains.

Milwaukee Bucks:
The “Bucks” owe their name to a contest launched in the late 1960s to find a suitable name for Milwaukee’s basketball team. The “Bucks” prevailed because male deer are considered fast and agile.

Boston Celtics:
With 17 titles, the Boston Celtics (tied with the Lakers) are the most successful team in league history. However, they “stole” their name from New York. The “Original Celtics” had been playing there since 1914—a name that Boston apparently liked as well.

Toronto Raptors:
Without a certain Mr. Steven Spielberg, the Canadians would likely have chosen a different name. It was the success of his 1993 film “Jurassic Park” that led the original “Huskies” to reinvent themselves two years later.

Brooklyn Nets:
In the “Empire State,” a knack for rhyming was particularly in demand. Alongside the New York Jets (NFL) and the New York Mets (MLB), the name “Nets” was chosen without hesitation. So if you happen to forget the name of your favorite team in the “Big Apple,” a quick glance at the city’s other sports teams will do the trick.

Philadelphia 76ers:
After the team was re-founded in 1963, the “City of Brotherly Love” decided to incorporate the date of the American Declaration of Independence (1776) into the franchise name.

Cleveland Cavaliers:
... represent a group of “fearless men who never give up,” as “SPOX” quotes Jerry Tomko, the man who came up with the name for the 2016 champions.

Chicago Bulls:
The team of NBA legend Michael Jordan owes its name to several events. For one thing, a few meat-packing plants dotted the cityscape; for another, the Bulls played at the “Amphitheater” at the time of their founding in 1966.

Miami Heat:
The name also came about through a fan poll. “Heat” prevailed over Vice, Sharks, Tornados, Barracudas, and Beaches.

Denver Nuggets:
The team led by MVP Nikola Jokic plays under the name “Nuggets” because the franchise, originally called “Rockets,” had to change its name due to the Houston Rockets. “Nuggets” refers to the gold rush that swept through Colorado in the 1850s.

Utah Jazz:
Utah and Jazz? Wouldn’t the name fit New Orleans better? Correct: Due to financial problems, the team was relocated from Louisiana in 1979, but the name was retained.

LA Lakers:
Los Angeles’ basketball team also owes its name to a detail that Californians actually have no connection to. The franchise didn’t move to the “City of Angels” until 1960; before that, it played in Minneapolis, a major city in Minnesota—the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Houston Rockets:
“Houston, this is Armstrong.” Why the Texans named themselves the “Rockets” is almost self-explanatory, given that NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is headquartered in Houston.

Incidentally, the NBA’s all-time leader in games played is Robert Panish with 1,611. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored the most points in history with 38,387.