CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 05: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrates after hitting the game winning shot to beat the Toronto Raptors 105-103 in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena on May 5, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio.

NBA stars' Chinese internet nicknames are incredible

8 years ago

Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Many basketball fans know LeBron James as "King James," but in China, he's earned the moniker "The Little Emperor."

Nick Kapur, an assistant professor at Rutgers University and historian of Japan and East Asia, put together a fantastic Twitter thread Monday of Chinese internet nicknames for NBA stars past and present.

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

Russell Westbrook - 威少 "Wei Dude"

Russ's phonetic name in Chinese (衛斯特布魯克 wei si te bu lu ke) is really long so they shortened it to "Wei Dude."

They also upgraded the "wei" from "guarding" (衛) to "dominating" (威).
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Stephen Curry has been given a few nicknames, including "Sprout God," "The Elementary School Student," and the NSFW "F--ks the Sky."

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

Klay Thompson - 佛祖 "The Buddha"

Because his very short curly hair reminds Chinese people of the Buddha's hairstyle in traditional Chinese art.
— 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

James Harden - 景德镇镇长 "The Mayor of Jingdezhen"

Jingdezhen is a town famous for making fragile porcelain, so "Son of Jingdezhen" (景德镇之子) is a term for an NBA flop artist. Harden is perceived to be the best at this "art," so he gets to be the "mayor" of Floptown.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018

Here are some other noteworthy nicknames: