Ranking Every Basketball Reference Nickname for the Atlanta Hawks

Ranking the Basketball Reference nicknames for the Atlanta Hawks’ players.

Basketball Reference is an amazing website that houses basically every basketball stat for everyone who’s ever played into an NBA game. I use it daily, and find myself drifting through random players’ pages just for fun. One feature always stands out on those pages: the nickname(s) under the players name. Some are well known, such as Atlanta Hawks’ point guard Trae Young‘s ‘Ice Trae’ moniker.

Others, like Andre Drummond‘s ‘Big Penguin’ and Cody Zeller‘s ‘The Big Handsome’ are as surprising as they’re hilarious. Other gems like those exist, and the best nicknames are the ones that are never used.

Here, I wanted to rank all of the nicknames that current members of the Atlanta Hawks have, which we’ll get to soon.

Before that however, it came to my attention that a lot of the Hawks don’t have any nicknames on Basketball Reference. I felt bad for these guys, as they’re missing out on potentially being called the ‘The Big Penguin’ or something similar.

These nickname-less players are below, and I floated them a moniker that may find its way onto Basketball Reference one day.

De’Andre Hunter: Big Game

I’m not much of a Hunter myself, but I do know that ‘game’ has something to do with the sport/hobby/survival tactic. He was considered a clutch player in college, always showing up in the important games (including the National Championship) for Virginia, and maybe if that clutch-ness translates to the NBA, De’Andre Hunter will become De’Andre ‘Big Game’ Hunter.

Damian Jones: Dameology

This isn’t listed as a nickname, but is Jones’ Twitter handle. I like it.

DeAndre’ Bembry: Bem

I don’t know. ‘Bembry’ has such smooth roll off the tongue that it’s not really worth giving him a nickname. I suppose you could shorten it to just ‘Bem’ and it’s just as effective.

Bruno Fernando: Boards

This is getting harder. Bruno starts with a b. Boards starts with a b. Bruno grabs boards….

Brandon Goodwin: Goody two points

Combining the phrase goody two shoes with Brandon Goodwin’s love of taking two point shots.

Jeff Teague: NBA Teague Pass

I have no idea who coined this (not me) but I’ve loved it since I saw it on Twitter. Just imagine a world that features NBA Teague Pass: a 24/7 streaming service of just Teague highlights.

Charlie Brown: Buddah

Apparently his entire family calls him this because “he’s the size of a baby.” He’s also 6-foot-6, but I’ll allow it because I had no non-Peanuts related nicknames.

Dewayne Dedmon: Phone Booth

You could have some fun with his name sounding like ‘Dead-man’, but his nickname should be cut from the same cloth as his three-point celebration.

Skal Labissière: Haitian Sensation

In a 2016 interview with Complex, Skal listed this as one’s he’s heard and likes. I like it too.

Treveon Graham: Trev

Anyone named Trevor, Treveon, or any name that starts with a T-r-e-v should just be called Trev.

Alright, now that those are of the way, he can rank the nicknames: