China’s nicknames for NBA stars are hilarious, weird and kind of mean

A thread of Chinese internet nicknames for NBA players.

China is crazy for the NBA, but official sources use boring phonetic transcriptions, failing to take advantage of Chinese characters having both sound and meaning. Chinese netizens have “improved” on these official names.

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Lebron James – 小皇帝 “The Little Emperor”

A play on the English “King James” that is also a slang term for a “spoiled only child” under China’s “One Child Policy”

Used more when Lebron was young but now mostly by Lebron haters. His fans prefer 詹皇 (Zhan Wang or “King James”).

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Giannis Antetokounmpo – 字母哥 “Letters Bro”

Because his last name has…so…many…letters!

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Kobe Bryant – 蜗壳 “Snail Shell”

Kobe is “Snail Shell” because it rhymes with “My [guy] Kobe.”

When he was young they called him 小飞侠 or “Peter Pan” (literally “Little Flying Warrior”) and at the end he became 唠嗑 (“Chatterbox, Gossip”), which rhymes with “Old Kobe.”

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Manu Ginobili – 妖刀 “The Demon Blade”

Perhaps the coolest nickname of them all, Ginobili earned this moniker for his ability to slash to the hoop using tricky footwork like the Eurostep.

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Shaquille O’Neal – 大鲨鱼 “The Giant Shark”

Derives from the fact that the first sound in the Chinese word for “shark” (shayu) sounds like the first sound in “Shaquille.”

Toward the end of his career, he was frequently called “O’Fat” (奥胖) – a play on “O’Neal.”

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Charles Barkley – 飞猪 “The Flying Pig”

Self-explanatory.

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Carmelo Anthony – 甜瓜 “Melon”

Because his English nickname “Melo” sounds like the English word “melon” which they then translated into Chinese (pronounced tian gua).

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

However, “Dr. J” did get turned into J博士 (“J, Ph.D.”), and Steve Francis’s nickname “The Franchise” was badly translated into 特权 (“Special Rights”).

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Scottie Pippen – 天下第二人 “Second Best Under Heaven”

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Michael Jordon – 帮主 “Gang Boss”

Jordan’s ordinary name in Chinese is 乔丹 (qiao dan), but Qiao is also the surname of Qiao Feng, the leader of the “Beggars’ Sect” in popular wuxia martial arts novels, often known simply as “Gang Boss Qiao” (乔帮主).

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018