In the grand American tradition of presidents, senators, Dancing with the Stars winners, and M&M colors, many NBA teams have given power to the people to determine their name via voting and/or contests.
1) Miami Heat
2) Orlando Magic
Florida was by far the biggest state in the union without an NBA franchise when the announcement was made in 1987 that either Miami or Orlando would be receiving one. After a heated battle it was ultimately decided that both would get their own team and write-in voting contests were immediately launched to name them. A cornucopia of sobriquets came pouring in, from the cool but obvious (Sharks, Barracudas), to the historically significant (Floridians in honor of the Miami ABA franchise, Challengers in honor of the exploded space shuttle), to the oddly benign (Beaches, Juice), to the sublime (Aquamen, Miami Vice). Magic was selected to invoke Disney World in Orlando, while Heat was selected to invoke, well, just how hot it is in Miami. This was presumably meant to be taken both figuratively and literally. Both teams therefore joined the Jazz as the only franchises with a name that didn't end with the letter “s” (later to be joined in that club by the Thunder).
3) Dallas Mavericks
Texas-based teams have got to be some of the easiest to nickname, as the state has such distinct personality markers that it warmly embraces. The Houston Rockets were actually not named after the Johnson Space Center of "Houston, we have a problem" fame. They instead inherited that name from the franchise's beginnings in San Diego, another city that was highly invested in the space program in the 1960s. The San Antonio Spurs is an obvious nod to the city's Wild West history, and was bestowed in 1973 when the then-ABA franchise relocated from Dallas, where they were named the Chaparrals. When Dallas won the rights in 1980 to host a new pro team, their first since the Chaparrals left, a local radio station sponsored a naming contest. Chaparrals was not a finalist, likely because few people even in Texas know what a chaparral is, let alone how to pronounce it (it's another name for a roadrunner, but the name was actually chosen for the ABA team because the owners had an organizational meeting at a location called the Chaparral Club). Mavericks ultimately beat the other Texas-y sounding finalists Wranglers and Express.
4) Milwaukee Bucks
In a place where the first day of hunting season is basically a state holiday, Bucks seems like such an obvious nickname. But if the fans in 1968 had their way they would be cheering for the Milwaukee Robins. After more than 14,000 name suggestions poured in for the newly award franchise, the first in Milwaukee since the Hawks had left for St. Louis 13 years prior, Robins was the top vote getter. It beat out not just Bucks, but other hunting related nicknames like Beavers and Stags. Management overrode the fan decision and went with Bucks, which had finished in second place, and the 45 fans who had suggested Bucks were drawn into a raffle, with the winner receiving a new car.
5) Oklahoma City Thunder
Though Oklahoma City SuperSonics was supposedly never seriously considered, a lawsuit from the city of Seattle ensured that it wasn't happening anyway. The Oklahoma City ownership team put out 64 options and allowed fans to vote (you’d think with 64 entrants they would have faced off the voting bracket style, but alas). Thunder won, supposedly in a landslide, with Wind, Energy, Barons, Marshals, and Bison also receiving a fair amount of support. The name refers not just to the Tornado Alley nickname of the city, but also its Native American heritage, wherein thunder is considered a mythological phenomenon.
6) Phoenix Suns
Original Suns general manager Jerry Colangelo hosted a name-the-team contest in 1968, where the winner would ultimately be decided by his plutocratic authority. He chose Suns out of the 28,000 mostly Arizona or Southwest-themed entries that included Rattlers (a precursor to the Arizona Diamondbacks), Wranglers, Mavericks, Mustangs, Cougars, Gold Nuggets, Muleskinners (?!?), Thunderbirds, and Scorpions. There was also more than one person who suggested Sun Gods, Sun Baskers, Sun Shooters, Sun Clouds, and, our personal favorite, Sun Lovers. The fan who suggested Suns was rewarded with $1,000 and season tickets for the franchise’s initial season (when they finished 16-66).
7) Toronto Raptors
8) Memphis Grizzlies
When the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies were set to join the NBA in 1995, they were poised to become the first major pro basketball teams in Canada since the Toronto Huskies of the BAA folded in 1947. Raptors ownership was interested in reviving the Huskies namesake, but were concerned it was too closely aligned with the recently inaugurated Minnesota Timberwolves. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Mounties were all set to take the court until the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officially objected. Thus, a contest was held nationwide to coin both franchises. Grizzlies just beat out Ravens, another species that’s native to Vancouver (the Baltimore Ravens would become an NFL team just two years later), and stuck in their eventual move to Memphis, after David Stern rejected an offer from FedEx to brand them as the Memphis Express. As for Toronto, there were nine other finalists beat out by Raptors – Grizzlies, Terriers, Hogs, Beavers, Tarantulas, Scorpions, Bobcats, Dragons, and Toronto T. Rex (Jurassic Park was very popular, folks).
9) Utah Jazz
Why did the Jazz keep their nickname when moving from New Orleans to Utah in 1978? As you could probably guess, it was just a cost saving measure. It allowed the team to keep using their jerseys, which featured just the word Jazz across the front and no mention of their former host city. As silly and incongruous as Utah Jazz sounds, the ownership in Salt Lake City was lucky they weren’t saddled with an even more New Orleans-centric nickname like Deltas, Cajuns, or Crescents. Those were amongst the finalists that lost out to Jazz when a contest was held to name the expansion franchise in 1974. Though there’s plenty of money now to rebrand with a new name, and the jokes about the lack of jazz clubs in Utah live on, ownership in Utah has steadily refused to change the team’s name, including in 2012 when the New Orleans Hornets management asked for Jazz back before eventually settling on Pelicans.
10) Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Pioneers was easily the winning entry in a 1970 fan voting contest held by team ownership for the first (and still only) major pro sports team in the state of Oregon. But there's a reason Pioneers was a name that stuck out in local's heads: It was already the nickname of nearby Lewis and Clark College's sports teams. Thus, management went with the similar runner-up, Trail Blazers, which was also a reference to the rich pioneering spirit of the area. It was not a popular pick at first, especially amongst local journalists who considered it too long for headlines, but obviously has endured as a Pacific Northwest staple. The winner of the contest received two season tickets for their suggestion.
11) Washington Wizards
Most people assume the name Bullets - which the franchise had carried over from Baltimore to Washington in 1974 - was changed in 1998 simply to disassociate with the violent crime reputation of D.C. But it was actually the 1995 assassination of team owner Abe Pollin's good friend, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, that was the last straw. Pollin held a fan contest to rename the team and Wizards was chosen over Sea Dogs, Stallions, Express, and the much cooler mythical creature, Dragons. It was immediately derided, partially for its Ku Klux Klan connotations and mostly for just being ridiculous. Even the incidental Harry Potter connection hasn't rendered the name any more popular in recent years.
12) Denver Nuggets
As a charter franchise of the ABA in 1967, they were originally supposed to be called the Denver Larks, a nod to the Colorado state bird, until they were sold to trucking magnate Bill Rigsby who renamed them the Rockets in reference to his “Rigsby Rocket” fleet of trucks. Several successful years later, with Rigsby gone and a sense that a merge with the NBA was imminent, ownership opted to change the name in 1974 to avoid confusion with the Houston Rockets. A fan voting contest was held and Nuggets was chosen as a nod to the city’s gold mining past. It was also the name of the original Denver pro basketball team, which played one NBA season in ’49-’50.
13) Cleveland Cavaliers
More than 11,000 suggestions were sent in to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1970 to name the new pro basketball team, the first in town since the Cleveland Rebels of the BAA had folded in 1948. The winning suggestion of Cavaliers came (along with an essay explaining it) from Jerry Tomko, who three years later would become the father of future Cleveland Indians pitcher Brett Tomko. It beat out other finalists that included Presidents, Jays, Foresters, and Towers (Jays was in reference to the owner’s son, while Towers was in reference to the city’s Terminal Tower, not tow trucks). Let's all take a moment of silence now to imagine J.R. Smith in a Cleveland Presidents jersey. On the 40th anniversary of the franchise, Tomko was finally officially honored by the team with a plaque, and a commemorative ball signed by ’09-’10 team roster.
14) Charlotte Hornets
15) Charlotte Bobcats
Just two years after the Hornets had left their original city for New Orleans, the rights to a new NBA franchise were granted to Charlotte in 2004. Hornets had been selected in a fan voting contest in 1987, beating out Knights, Stars, Crowns, and Cougars, which was a nod to the city’s previous ABA franchise. It was an homage to Charlotte’s stubborn resistance to British occupation during the Revolutionary War, which led Lord Cornwallis to dub them a “veritable nest of hornets.” (Though the people had spoken and they’d chosen wisely, then owner George Shinn still considered overruling the vote to go with his choice, the Charlotte Spirit, a nod to his friend, televangelist Jim Bakker. But Bakker was soon after embroiled in an embezzlement scandal, and Shinn relented). 17 years later, the city was given another chance to vote on a team name, this time selecting Bobcats over Flight and Dragons. It was certainly a welcome choice for then owner Robert “Bob” Johnson, but for everyone else the return of the Hornets was a thankful development in 2013, when it was abdicated by the New Orleans Pelicans.
2) Orlando Magic
Florida was by far the biggest state in the union without an NBA franchise when the announcement was made in 1987 that either Miami or Orlando would be receiving one. After a heated battle it was ultimately decided that both would get their own team and write-in voting contests were immediately launched to name them. A cornucopia of sobriquets came pouring in, from the cool but obvious (Sharks, Barracudas), to the historically significant (Floridians in honor of the Miami ABA franchise, Challengers in honor of the exploded space shuttle), to the oddly benign (Beaches, Juice), to the sublime (Aquamen, Miami Vice). Magic was selected to invoke Disney World in Orlando, while Heat was selected to invoke, well, just how hot it is in Miami. This was presumably meant to be taken both figuratively and literally. Both teams therefore joined the Jazz as the only franchises with a name that didn't end with the letter “s” (later to be joined in that club by the Thunder).
3) Dallas Mavericks
Texas-based teams have got to be some of the easiest to nickname, as the state has such distinct personality markers that it warmly embraces. The Houston Rockets were actually not named after the Johnson Space Center of "Houston, we have a problem" fame. They instead inherited that name from the franchise's beginnings in San Diego, another city that was highly invested in the space program in the 1960s. The San Antonio Spurs is an obvious nod to the city's Wild West history, and was bestowed in 1973 when the then-ABA franchise relocated from Dallas, where they were named the Chaparrals. When Dallas won the rights in 1980 to host a new pro team, their first since the Chaparrals left, a local radio station sponsored a naming contest. Chaparrals was not a finalist, likely because few people even in Texas know what a chaparral is, let alone how to pronounce it (it's another name for a roadrunner, but the name was actually chosen for the ABA team because the owners had an organizational meeting at a location called the Chaparral Club). Mavericks ultimately beat the other Texas-y sounding finalists Wranglers and Express.
4) Milwaukee Bucks
In a place where the first day of hunting season is basically a state holiday, Bucks seems like such an obvious nickname. But if the fans in 1968 had their way they would be cheering for the Milwaukee Robins. After more than 14,000 name suggestions poured in for the newly award franchise, the first in Milwaukee since the Hawks had left for St. Louis 13 years prior, Robins was the top vote getter. It beat out not just Bucks, but other hunting related nicknames like Beavers and Stags. Management overrode the fan decision and went with Bucks, which had finished in second place, and the 45 fans who had suggested Bucks were drawn into a raffle, with the winner receiving a new car.
5) Oklahoma City Thunder
Though Oklahoma City SuperSonics was supposedly never seriously considered, a lawsuit from the city of Seattle ensured that it wasn't happening anyway. The Oklahoma City ownership team put out 64 options and allowed fans to vote (you’d think with 64 entrants they would have faced off the voting bracket style, but alas). Thunder won, supposedly in a landslide, with Wind, Energy, Barons, Marshals, and Bison also receiving a fair amount of support. The name refers not just to the Tornado Alley nickname of the city, but also its Native American heritage, wherein thunder is considered a mythological phenomenon.
6) Phoenix Suns
Original Suns general manager Jerry Colangelo hosted a name-the-team contest in 1968, where the winner would ultimately be decided by his plutocratic authority. He chose Suns out of the 28,000 mostly Arizona or Southwest-themed entries that included Rattlers (a precursor to the Arizona Diamondbacks), Wranglers, Mavericks, Mustangs, Cougars, Gold Nuggets, Muleskinners (?!?), Thunderbirds, and Scorpions. There was also more than one person who suggested Sun Gods, Sun Baskers, Sun Shooters, Sun Clouds, and, our personal favorite, Sun Lovers. The fan who suggested Suns was rewarded with $1,000 and season tickets for the franchise’s initial season (when they finished 16-66).
7) Toronto Raptors
8) Memphis Grizzlies
When the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies were set to join the NBA in 1995, they were poised to become the first major pro basketball teams in Canada since the Toronto Huskies of the BAA folded in 1947. Raptors ownership was interested in reviving the Huskies namesake, but were concerned it was too closely aligned with the recently inaugurated Minnesota Timberwolves. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Mounties were all set to take the court until the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officially objected. Thus, a contest was held nationwide to coin both franchises. Grizzlies just beat out Ravens, another species that’s native to Vancouver (the Baltimore Ravens would become an NFL team just two years later), and stuck in their eventual move to Memphis, after David Stern rejected an offer from FedEx to brand them as the Memphis Express. As for Toronto, there were nine other finalists beat out by Raptors – Grizzlies, Terriers, Hogs, Beavers, Tarantulas, Scorpions, Bobcats, Dragons, and Toronto T. Rex (Jurassic Park was very popular, folks).
9) Utah Jazz
Why did the Jazz keep their nickname when moving from New Orleans to Utah in 1978? As you could probably guess, it was just a cost saving measure. It allowed the team to keep using their jerseys, which featured just the word Jazz across the front and no mention of their former host city. As silly and incongruous as Utah Jazz sounds, the ownership in Salt Lake City was lucky they weren’t saddled with an even more New Orleans-centric nickname like Deltas, Cajuns, or Crescents. Those were amongst the finalists that lost out to Jazz when a contest was held to name the expansion franchise in 1974. Though there’s plenty of money now to rebrand with a new name, and the jokes about the lack of jazz clubs in Utah live on, ownership in Utah has steadily refused to change the team’s name, including in 2012 when the New Orleans Hornets management asked for Jazz back before eventually settling on Pelicans.
10) Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Pioneers was easily the winning entry in a 1970 fan voting contest held by team ownership for the first (and still only) major pro sports team in the state of Oregon. But there's a reason Pioneers was a name that stuck out in local's heads: It was already the nickname of nearby Lewis and Clark College's sports teams. Thus, management went with the similar runner-up, Trail Blazers, which was also a reference to the rich pioneering spirit of the area. It was not a popular pick at first, especially amongst local journalists who considered it too long for headlines, but obviously has endured as a Pacific Northwest staple. The winner of the contest received two season tickets for their suggestion.
11) Washington Wizards
Most people assume the name Bullets - which the franchise had carried over from Baltimore to Washington in 1974 - was changed in 1998 simply to disassociate with the violent crime reputation of D.C. But it was actually the 1995 assassination of team owner Abe Pollin's good friend, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, that was the last straw. Pollin held a fan contest to rename the team and Wizards was chosen over Sea Dogs, Stallions, Express, and the much cooler mythical creature, Dragons. It was immediately derided, partially for its Ku Klux Klan connotations and mostly for just being ridiculous. Even the incidental Harry Potter connection hasn't rendered the name any more popular in recent years.
12) Denver Nuggets
As a charter franchise of the ABA in 1967, they were originally supposed to be called the Denver Larks, a nod to the Colorado state bird, until they were sold to trucking magnate Bill Rigsby who renamed them the Rockets in reference to his “Rigsby Rocket” fleet of trucks. Several successful years later, with Rigsby gone and a sense that a merge with the NBA was imminent, ownership opted to change the name in 1974 to avoid confusion with the Houston Rockets. A fan voting contest was held and Nuggets was chosen as a nod to the city’s gold mining past. It was also the name of the original Denver pro basketball team, which played one NBA season in ’49-’50.
13) Cleveland Cavaliers
More than 11,000 suggestions were sent in to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1970 to name the new pro basketball team, the first in town since the Cleveland Rebels of the BAA had folded in 1948. The winning suggestion of Cavaliers came (along with an essay explaining it) from Jerry Tomko, who three years later would become the father of future Cleveland Indians pitcher Brett Tomko. It beat out other finalists that included Presidents, Jays, Foresters, and Towers (Jays was in reference to the owner’s son, while Towers was in reference to the city’s Terminal Tower, not tow trucks). Let's all take a moment of silence now to imagine J.R. Smith in a Cleveland Presidents jersey. On the 40th anniversary of the franchise, Tomko was finally officially honored by the team with a plaque, and a commemorative ball signed by ’09-’10 team roster.
14) Charlotte Hornets
15) Charlotte Bobcats
Just two years after the Hornets had left their original city for New Orleans, the rights to a new NBA franchise were granted to Charlotte in 2004. Hornets had been selected in a fan voting contest in 1987, beating out Knights, Stars, Crowns, and Cougars, which was a nod to the city’s previous ABA franchise. It was an homage to Charlotte’s stubborn resistance to British occupation during the Revolutionary War, which led Lord Cornwallis to dub them a “veritable nest of hornets.” (Though the people had spoken and they’d chosen wisely, then owner George Shinn still considered overruling the vote to go with his choice, the Charlotte Spirit, a nod to his friend, televangelist Jim Bakker. But Bakker was soon after embroiled in an embezzlement scandal, and Shinn relented). 17 years later, the city was given another chance to vote on a team name, this time selecting Bobcats over Flight and Dragons. It was certainly a welcome choice for then owner Robert “Bob” Johnson, but for everyone else the return of the Hornets was a thankful development in 2013, when it was abdicated by the New Orleans Pelicans.