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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.
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").
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).
Steph Curry - 库昊 "fucks the sky" This is an extremely elaborate pun. One of Curry's phonetic names is 库里 (ku li) and the second character is a combination of the characters 日 ("sun") and 土 ("ground"). But 日 is also slang for "fuck." 1/3
Given Curry's penchant for launching shots into the sky, Chinese netizens apparently felt it would be more apropos to name him "fucks the sky" instead of "fucks the ground," so they replaced "earth" (土) with "sky" (天) in the second character. 2/3
Other common nicknames for Steph Curry include "Sprout God" (萌神) and "The Elementary School Student" (小学生), both playing on his diminutive stature. 3/3
Giannis Antetokounmpo - 字母哥 "Letters Bro" Because his last name has...so...many...letters!
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."
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.
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."
Klay Thompson - 佛祖 "The Buddha" Because his very short curly hair reminds Chinese people of the Buddha's hairstyle in traditional Chinese art.
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).
Kevin Durant - 书包杜 "Schoolbag Du" Because he used to often wear a backpack to press conferences ("Du" is short for "Durant")
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).
Vehicle nicknames! Dirk Nowitzki is 德国战车, "The German Panzer Tank" Tony Parker is 法国小跑车, "The Little French Sports Car"
Some nicknames are straightforward or are direct translations of the English: James Harden - 大胡子 "The Big Beard" Paul Pierce - 真理 "The Truth" Allen Iverson - 答案 "The Answer" Gary Patyon - 手套 "The Glove" Kawhi Leonard - 可愛 - means "cute" but sounds like "Kawhi"
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").
Dwyane Wade - 典韋 "Dian Wei" Dian Wei was a mighty warrior from the ancient Three Kingdoms Period who was a loyal sidekick of the general Cao Cao. He famously died covering for Cao Cao's retreat when they were ambushed by a rebel army. His name also sounds like "Dwyane Wade."
Stephon Marbury - 马政委 "Marburyist Political Commissar" This is a pun on "Marxist Political Commissar," since in Chinese both "Marbury" and "Marx" are spelled with the same first character "ma" ("horse").
Kevin Garnett - 狼王 "King of the Wolves" Leftover from his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves
Joel Embiid - 大帝 "The Great One" "Da di," meaning "great emperor" is the title used in Chinese for rulers who are called "the Great," as in "Alexander the Great"
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