The origin of the names of 36 NBA36 teams

There are only 30 teams in the NBA, not 36.

Toronto Raptors

Now the NBA is a sports league known to all women and children. But the name of BAA, the predecessor of NBA, is not very loud, and the situation of the first game of BAA League is even less known. 1 946165438+1October1,at the Maple Leaf Garden Stadium in Toronto, the new york Knicks (the predecessor of the Knicks) defeated the home team Toronto Eskimos.

Eskimos disbanded after that season. It took Canada nearly 50 years to welcome the second NBA team.

On April 23rd, 1993, the NBA announced that it had received an application from Canadian professional basketball co., ltd. The application shows that the Canadian professional basketball company hopes to become the owner of the new NBA army. On September 30th of the same year, at the enlarged meeting of NBA, it was decided that the team formed by Canadian Professional Basketball Co., Ltd. would become the 28th team in NBA, and could participate in NBA competitions from the season of 1995-96.

As a result, a nationwide name-seeking activity was launched vigorously in Canada. The last 10 names are mostly animal names: beaver, beaver, bobcat,

Dragons, grizzly bears, wild boar (Toronto's nickname is the city of pigs), raptors, scorpions, Tyrannosaurus Rex, tarantulas and Trier terriers.

In fact, the correct meaning of raptor should refer to the fastest raptor among dinosaurs. 1994 may 15, Canadian professional basketball co., ltd decided to choose the name Athlon. The reason is that the films Jurassic Park and Dinosaur Fever, which were popular all over the world at that time, were the trend of young people. The colors of the team are also red, purple, black and silver.

Houston rockets

1967, San Diego became the first 12 member of the NBA. The city government called on citizens to name the team. After several selections, the "rocket" that best reflects the rapidly developing space-age industry in the local area became the name of the team.

Although the rocket moved to Houston on 197 1. But the name of the rocket also applies. Because the American Aerospace Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are located there.

Philadelphia 76 ers

The 76 ers, formerly known as the Syracuse national team, is one of the "founders" of the NBA.

1963 In the spring, Philadelphia citizens Eve Coslov and Eichmann bought the Syracuse national team. The NBA approved the acquisition on May 22nd.

On August 3rd, 1963, the team held a meeting to change the team name. Among the 500 suggestions, the team chose 76 people as team names to commemorate 1776' s signing of the American Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Similar to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, it commemorates the discovery of the San Francisco gold mine.

Walter Steinberg, who put forward this name, won himself a luxurious trip to the west coast of the United States with his little note and only 25 words to explain the team name.

Seattle supersonics team.

The name of this 1967 team that joined the NBA comes from Boeing aircraft that frequently take off and land in Seattle. A year before the team was founded, Boeing announced their plan to develop Concorde into a supersonic transport vehicle.

Although the plan to develop a new concept supersonic airliner has not been realized, supersonic has left a deep impression on the public. Therefore, the name "Supersonic" won by an overwhelming margin in the team nomination activity.

San Antonio Spurs

1967, the predecessor of San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Jungle Team, was founded in Dallas. This team was named Jungle, because when the bosses decided to form this team, they were eating in an advanced club called Jungle Club.

1970, the team changed its name to Texas jungle team, but its home court is still in Dallas.

1973, a group of businessmen from San Antonio bought the Texas Jungle Team and moved to San Antonio, which is also a Texas city. To commemorate the local cowboys, this team is named after the spurs on the heels of cowboy boots, which are used to drive horses. 1976 The Spurs joined the NBA with three other ABA teams-the new york Nets, the Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers.

Phoenix sun

Like many people, Beguene may not remember what he had for lunch three days ago, but if you ask him about the letter he wrote to the then Phoenix basketball team 30 years ago, he will definitely remember it clearly.

At that time, Bergne was only 12 years old, and he thought he had given a good name to the newly formed Phoenix professional basketball team. So he wrote to Al, one of the team owners. He recommended the name "Firebird" to Al. 1On October 23rd, his letter was posted. At the end of the letter, Beguene asked Al to write back to him at his convenience. However, the letter sank into the sea, and then Bergner found that his name had not been adopted.

Coincidentally, this self-respecting diehard Sun fan owns an insurance company, and Al Media Company under Al's name happens to be their customer. So Beguene decided to visit his clients. He said, "I think I need to show him this letter. I'll ask him why he didn't answer my letter. "

So he took his wife Lin to Sun's office. There they met Al. Al said to Begone, "That's a good name. In fact, firebird is one of the names we think is more suitable. "

However, Jerry colangelo, the general manager of the team, chose "Sun" as the name of the team in the works of "Team Name" activity attended by 28,000 people. After that, a fan named Selinda entered the competition under the name of "Sun" and won a season ticket for one year and $65,438+0,000 in cash.

"I want those tickets," said Begone. "I think my name is better than others." . In fact, "Firebird" is really a good name. It's just that Beguene sent the letter in the wrong place.

1986, all triple A minor league teams of Dalian League San Francisco Giants decided to change their team names. The final winner is Firebird. Poor Beguene missed the trip to Hawaii offered by the Giants.

minnesota timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves have not entered the NBA for a long time. This team officially became a member of the League on 1989. Timberwolves were chosen as the team's name because Minnesota is the main habitat of Timberwolves in the United States.

This logo was also selected through the "Team Name" activity. Fans cast 6076 votes and provided 1284 unique names. Among them, Timberwolves, 17 times nominated, and Arctic became the last two names to participate in the finals. Other 1282 entries also have their own characteristics, even including some names that need to be looked up in the dictionary.

Portland Trailblazer

1970 February 10 NBA officials agree that Portland should form a professional basketball team to join the league. Two weeks later, Harry Glickman, the club's executive vice president, launched a "team name" campaign. "There were about 65,438+00,000 emails," he recalled. Among these works, the most popular one is Pioneer, but this name has been used by the team of Lewis-Clark College in Portland. So they decided to use the Blazers as the name of the team.

"Some 172 people named the team' Blazers', and the team committee finally named it as the team name," Glickman said.

"They decided to choose a lucky one from 172 fans who named the team' Blazers' by drawing lots. The draw was made between Seattle and new york in the regular season on March 65, 2003, "he said. Blake Bourne was the final winner. He got two season tickets for the pioneers.

Golden state warriors

Golden State Warriors was one of the first 1 1 teams to join the NBA. When he was in Philadelphia from 65438 to 0946, all his bosses decided to name an old basketball team in Philadelphia after the Warriors. This team has been a member of the American Basketball Association since 1925.

The name of this team changes with the position of the team. 1962, after the team moved to the west coast, the team was renamed the San Francisco Warriors, symbolizing that this team belongs to the whole of California; 197 1 year, the team moved to Oakland and changed its name to Golden State Warriors.

Washington wizards

Wizards is the most renamed team in NBA. 1946, the NBA approved Baltimore and a nearby ammunition foundry to form an NBA team, the Bullets Team. But the team quickly announced its dissolution.

Since then, the Chicago Packers, later Chicago Zephyr, have moved to Baltimore. 1963, they changed the name of the team to bullets. 1974, Battimore Bullets moved to Washington and changed its name to Washington Bullets.

Because the bullet was later accused of violence, Abe Bolin, the boss of the 1996 team, decided to adopt a name without a symbol of violence. 1997 May 15, after the fans voted, "Wizards" won from the last three selected names.

Charlotte bobcats

The Bobcats are the youngest team in the NBA. The team's bobcat logo depicts the mental state of this new team and also shows the team's enterprising spirit and desire.

The team logo highlights the bobcats' two special ears, and also shows the bobcats' neat and smooth characteristics. At the same time, bobcats' ears pricked up and their teeth showed, as if ready to attack.

The logo of the Bobcats keeps the image of the Bobcats. Like bobcats, dense orange has become the main color of bobcats' logo. At the same time, bright blue, black and silver, together with Bobcat Orange, constitute the four colors of the team.

Bobcats are native to the eastern United States, but they are often seen in other parts of the United States. Bobcats lie in the daytime and go out at night. They are secretive, fierce and swift, and often attack by jumping 10 feet. They are the most ideal representatives of Charlotte's new NBA Corps.

Milwaukee bucks

Bucks 1968 entered the NBA league. This name was selected from more than 400 names:/kloc-0. The winner is R D Trey Briks who lives in White Fish Bay. Trey Briks also got a new car as a reward because his team name was chosen.

John ericson, then general manager of the Bucks, said that the judges chose the name that was closest to local life in Wisconsin. Therefore, due to the dominant position of deer in local wildlife, the team chose stag as the team name.

Chicago bulls

Richard Klein, the first owner of the Bulls, chose the Bulls as the name of his team. Bulls 1966 entered the NBA and became the first team in the league.

Why did Klein choose the bull? This is recorded in the Chicago Bull Encyclopedia:

The name of the bull shows strength and strength. Moreover, this name is closely related to Chicago's meat processing industry and bullring. Moreover, the names of Chicago Bulls and other professional teams have a feature, that is, the main names of the team are all one-syllable English, such as Bears and White Sox.

Red Sox, Bear and Black Hawk.

Klein said at the time: "We are the meat capital of the world. At first I thought about using matador. But the word matador has at least three syllables. To this end, I sat in my room and discussed these names with my wife and children. This is, my youngest son Mark said,' Dad, there are many bulls there!' I said,' Use a bull!' So, we told them that our team would use the name bull. "

Cleveland Cavaliers

1970, a newspaper named Plain Dealer in Cleveland held an activity to name the new basketball team in the city.

Jerry Tanker, the winner of the competition, wrote in his tender letter that the Cavaliers represented a group of brave, cautious and fearless men. These knights never give in, never surrender, whether they win or not.

However, the English name of the Cavaliers is often simplified to CAVS.

Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics were born in 1946. The American Basketball Association (BAA), the predecessor of NBA, was also established that year. Walter brown was the head of the Boston Garden Gymnasium Company at that time, and he wanted to give the team a new name.

After hearing this news, many Bostonians enthusiastically named their teams, including Cyclone, Olympus and Unicorn.

However, Brown chose the Celtics. In this regard, Brown explained that the Celts came from the traditional Celts in new york 19 14- 1939. And there are many Irish descendants in Boston.

los angeles clippers

1978, the California coastal city of San Diego welcomed the Buffalo Warriors, because San Diego's team, the Rockets, moved to Houston seven years ago.

But the official in charge of sports in San Diego believes that the name Warriors does not represent the spirit of San Diego. To this end, San Diego held a naming event. Finally, I chose the name Clipper, because San Diego is famous for its big ships crossing San Diego Bay. 1984, the Clippers went to Los Angeles, but they still kept their original names.

memphis grizzlies

1995-96 Before the season, the NBA league expanded and the Grizzlies were born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The team owner wants to choose a name suitable for Vancouver and British Columbia.

After preliminary consultation, the team chose the Royal Mounted Police as the name of the team to express its praise to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. However, it wasn't long before the team decided to use the name grizzly bear instead. Because the grizzly bear is a unique animal in British Columbia, it occupies a special position in the culture of northwest Canada and even the whole of Canada.

However, when the team moved to Memphis, Tennessee on 200 1, someone wanted to give the team a new name. In order to reflect some characteristics of the team's new home.

However, after discussing this issue with season ticket holders, fans and the business community, the team management said that although Tennessee has no history of grizzly bears, people tend to keep the name grizzly bears.

Although the name of the team has not changed, the team's logo has changed. The new logo embodies strength, ability, courage, personality, perseverance and fearlessness. The background color of the team logo is blue.

Atlanta hawks

1946, the national basketball league NBL approved the establishment of a team in three cities where the Mississippi River flows. These three cities are Moline in Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa.

Because the Black Hawk, the leader of Indian Sok, is active in Rock Island, and the Black Hawk of 183 1 is fighting in the nearby area, the team is named the Three Cities Black Hawk Team.

1949, Black Hawk joined the NBA. 195 1 year, the black Hawks settled in milwaukee, and the team name was changed to hawk. 1955, the team moved to St. Louis, and the name was still Eagle. 1868 The team moved to Atlanta under the name of Eagle.

miami heat

From 65438 to 0988, Miami had an NBA team. Team officials hope that the name of the team will attract fans in southern Florida, so they decided to launch a team naming campaign.

Enthusiastic fans provided more than 5,000 names, including sharks, palm trees, beaches, heat, barracuda, flamingos, dark skin, cyclones and Florida people. "We chose the name of the Heat," said team owner Buffman. Because when you think of Miami, the first thing you think of is heat. "

New Orleans bumblebee

Before the NBA team settled in Charlotte, the city's basketball club was called Charlotte Ghosts, but this name has always been opposed by the people of Carolina.

To this end, the club collected team names from fans, and finally six names participated in the competition. Finally, the bumblebee won. 1988, the team officially launched the name of the wasp.

The name of bumblebee can be traced back to the War of Independence. Charles Cohen Voorhees, a British general at that time, said in a letter from Carrerona to the king of England, "Fighting in this place is like fighting in a hive."

In the 2002-03 season, the team moved to New Orleans, but still used the name of the Hornets. During Hurricane Cathrina in August 2005, the team temporarily moved to Oklahoma City, but still retained the name of the Hornets.

Utah jazz

1974, New Orleans held a signature event for its professional basketball team. The citizens of the city provided more than 6,500 names to the organizing committee. In the end, eight names entered the "second interview stage": Jazz, Duke, Crescent, Pilotage, Acadia, Bruce, Delta and Knight. After a heated discussion, team officials announced the name of the new team as the New Orleans Jazz on June 7th, 1974.

Among those who participated in the nomination activities, three people put forward the name "Sir". Therefore, the team officially invited Miss New Orleans from 1974 to choose a lucky one among the three. Finally, 27-year-old businessman Steve Brown became the winner. The former new york player who once played in the same basketball league with the famous "Dr. J" received two season tickets for the Jazz as a reward. Jazz also invited him to watch the 1975 NBA All-Star Game.

New Orleans, the "Jazz Capital", likes this name which can represent the characteristics of the team very much. Romantic blue, gold and dark green have become the main colors of the team logo.

In the next five years, New Orleans was the birthplace of urban jazz. However, when the team ended the 78-79 season with the worst regular season record in NBA history, the team management decided to move its home to Salt Lake City, Utah. Although the team's new home has no tradition of "jazz", the name has been preserved.

Sacramento kings

The Kings, formerly known as 1947, joined the NBL League Rochester Royal Team. 1957, the team moved to Cincinnati, but the name of the team was still Royal.

1972, they moved to Kansas city. Because the local baseball team in Kansas is called the Royal Baseball Team, they changed their names to Kansas City and Omaha Kings.

Three years later, they removed Omaha from their name. 1985, the Kings moved to Sacramento, but this time it didn't change its name.

new york knicks

The name of the Knicks comes from the English word "KNICKERBOCKER". This word refers to the descendants of Dutch immigrants, that is, the descendants of early Dutch immigrants in new york. The original meaning of this word refers to a pair of knickerbockers, which are folded and tied under the knees. /kloc-In the 7th century, early Dutch immigrants in new york often rolled their trouser legs around their knees to facilitate their work. Over time, this has become synonymous with the descendants of Dutch immigrants.

The name "bloomers" first appeared in the history of world sports in 1845. At that time, a man named alexander cartwright formed a baseball team whose main members were people living near Manhattan. The name of the team is "new york bloomers" or "bloomers". Although the team moved to New Jersey on 1846, the name of the team has not changed.

It can be seen that the name "knickerbocker" has always been synonymous with new york. So when 1946, baa (basketball.

When the American Basketball Association decided to form a team in new york, Ned Ellis, a veteran of the team and an American basketball legend, decided to name the team KNICKERBOCKER.

However, Fred podesta, general manager of Rose Garden Stadium, died in 1999 at the age of 86. Before his death, he recalled: "The name comes from a hat. One day, Alex, Lester Scott and several other staff held a voting ceremony in the office. Each of us wrote a name on the note and threw it into the hat. Finally, after statistics, most people wrote KNICKERBOCKER, so the name of the team was decided. Soon after, we created the team mascot-Dad knickerbocker, and knickerbocker was referred to as the Knicks. "

LA Lakers

1947, the Minneapolis Lakers joined the NBL league. A year later, the team transferred to the BAA League, the predecessor of the NBA League.

The name of the Lakers comes from another name in Minneapolis-the land of thousands of lakes. Although there are no Great Lakes in Los Angeles, the Lakers 1960 did not change their original names when they moved to Los Angeles.

Orlando magic

1in April, 987, NBA officials decided to approve Orlando's team to join the league through a meeting. Unlike other teams, Orlando has decided its own team name when it is eight months before joining the league.

Orlando businessman Jim Hewitt and former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Pat Williams were the original sponsors of the team. When forming a team, they decided to give the team a loud name first, regardless of whether the NBA agreed to join the team or not.

So they called on the whole city to name the team, and then they chose four names from all 4296 names to consider. These four names are-heat, theme, juice and magic.

Pat Williams's 7-year-old daughter came to Orlando from Philadelphia to visit her father, and the arbitration panel is trying to choose one of these four names. When the little girl finished her trip and was ready to bid farewell to the city. Pat Williams asked her at the airport what she thought of the city with Disneyland.

"I really like it here. It's as wonderful as magic. "

The little girl's words made Pat Williams determined. So eight months later, the NBA added a new army called Orlando Magic.

Dallas Mavericks

1979 Don Carter applied to the NBA League to set up an NBA team in Dallas. Previously, Dallas used to have a professional basketball team (a jungle team belonging to the ABA League). But this team moved to San Antonio and later became the current Spurs.

In the league meeting of 1980, NBA officials agreed to Carter's request. Approved Dallas to participate in NBA league games from 80-8 1 season. In March, 1980, WBAP Radio launched a new naming activity for the NBA Army. Shortly thereafter, a list of more than 4,600 people was submitted to a five-member arbitration panel. Among them, the arbitration panel selected three names, calf, debater and express, for the team owner Donald Carter to choose. Finally, the calf became the name of the team.

Calf should be interpreted as an unmarked calf (horse) or a lost calf (horse) in the old west. Dallas is a city in western Texas, named calf, to commemorate the local cowboy life in the west. Similar to the local NFL team dallas cowboys.

New jersey nets

From 65438 to 0967, New Jersey Americans became a new force in Aba League. A year later, they moved to new york and changed their name to new york Nets according to one of the most important parts of the basketball court.

Of course, this name is also intended to make people in new york read smoothly. At that time, new york had another professional baseball team, the Mets, and a professional football team, the Jets, besides the Yankees of Dalian League. Brown, the owner of the team, listened to a reporter's suggestion and thought that the pronunciation of the Nets rhymed with the pronunciation of Metropolis and Jets, so he changed the Americans to the Nets.

With the annexation of ABA by 1976 NBA, the new york Nets joined the NBA. Because the NBA had the symbol of new york Knicks at that time, it was difficult for the Nets to compete with the Knicks in the same city in business, so they chose to move to New Jersey, 40 miles away from new york, across the river, and changed their name to New Jersey Nets.

Denver nuggets

This team was born out of 1967 Denver Rockets who joined ABA league. In the same year, the San Diego Rockets (now Houston Rockets) joined the NBA.

Seven years later, Denver joined the NBA. But because there are already rockets in the league. So the Denver team must be renamed. So in order to commemorate the gold rush that broke out in Colorado in the19th century, the Denver Rockets became the Denver Nuggets. Of course, this is also to commemorate the "Old Denver Nuggets" who played in the NBA for one year in 1949- 1950 season.

indiana pacers

The name of the "Founding Fathers" team of ABA League was decided by a group of investors.

Indiana lawyer Richard Tinkham explained the name. On the one hand, Zouma represents the tradition of horse racing in this state, on the other hand, it also represents the tradition of Indy 500 horse racing.

According to Dinkham's memory, the name of the Zouma Team was decided at once when discussing the name, which is not the main point of the debate. At that time, there was a long debate about whether to invite Indiana to walk the horse or Indianapolis to walk the horse.

1976, the team joined the NBA league and adopted this name.

Detroit piston

Detroit piston originated in fort wayne and was founded by local automobile piston giant Fred Zollner on 194 1. Formerly known as Ford Wayne Czollner Piston, this name should have been invented by the boss when he advertised himself.

I joined the NBL construction team at that time.

1948, the piston jumped to the league competitor BAA. From 65438 to 0949, Fred Czollner promoted a "good thing" between NBL and BAA, and merged the two basketball leagues into NBA. Pistons became a member of the NBA Central Division.

1957, the piston moved to Detroit and changed its name to Detroit piston, which happened to be the automobile city of the United States.