1) Bill Russell

He played with “Satch,” “Hondo,” “Ack Ack,” “Jungle Jim,” “The Houdini of the Hardwood,” and “The Kentucky Colonel.” But no one ever bothered to nickname Bill Russell, not that anyone ever needed to do so. He was so good in such an unassuming way that he defied the traditional trappings of early basketball greatness. Of course, “Bill” was technically a nickname in and of itself, short for William Felton Russell, and even that was too flashy for him until he became a breakout college star and lost full agency over his public persona. According to Russell he was always referred to as William in his childhood home, as nicknames were abhorred by a poor, disenfranchised family trying to lift themselves up into respectability. Growing up in rural Louisiana during the height of segregation, Russell was likely exposed to all kinds of inappropriate and demeaning nicknames from white classmates and neighbors. In an effort to re-appropriate that hatred, Bill’s mother made him promise never to let a nickname bestowed by another person stick. He never did, and we as basketball fans never needed one anyway. No one is ever going to forget Bill Russell just by virtue of him being the great Bill Russell.

2) Scottie Pippen
3) John Stockton

While the ’90s were the time of “Air,” “Sir Charles,” “The Dream,” “The Worm,” and “The Admiral,” amongst myriad others, it’s no coincidence that the two greatest players to avoid nicknames were the two most unostentatious stars of the era. Pippen and Stockton will always be inexorably linked with Michael Jordan and Karl Malone, respectively, and neither ever received a nickname that came even close to the endearing monikers of their more famous teammates. Pippen did get shortened to “Pip” but that hardly counts. And Scottie itself isn’t even a nickname but the formal name that resides on his birth certificate. Stockton may have been the most blase star in NBA history, so it’s only fitting that his persona never got spiced up with a nom de plume. Some took to calling him “Iron Man” due to his longevity, but that never caught on the way it did with Cal Ripken. One thing you can say for Pippen is that his proper name has become a nickname unto itself. Whenever a player is seen as the do-everything second banana that’s teammates with a superstar, we now call that the “Pippen Role.”

4) Elgin Baylor

It was Baylor who started calling his Lakers teammate Jerry West “Zeke from Cabin Creek,” a play on his humble upbringing (Baylor loved handing out offbeat nicknames. He would also later deem teammate Gail Goodrich as “Stumpy”). Fans at the time also took to calling Baylor and West “Mr. Inside” and “Mr. Outside,” based on their respective preference of court position. But for all his revolutionary and electric performances on the court, Baylor never received a solid nickname of his own. The one unfortunate term he’s still known by, and would probably prefer to shed, is “Greatest Player of All Time Without a Championship.”

5) Dirk Nowitzki

In 2011, after Nowitzki won Finals MVP with a sublime performance against the Miami Heat, the Dallas Morning News held a fan voting contest, hoping to finally bestow the star with a signature nickname that would stick. The winner was “ReDirkulous.” If you think that’s bad, consider some of the alternatives: Fade-away Fuhrer, White Mamba, Dirkules, and Big D. It’s arguable that a guy named Dirk doesn’t really need a nickname, but it does seem odd that the idiosyncratic German star with a singular game has never had a solid one latched on to him. Perhaps just as perplexing is that no one has come up with a nickname for Nowitzki’s signature shot, a herky-jerky off-balance fade-away jumper that is now oft-imitated, but will never be equaled.

6) Rick Barry

Some took to calling him “Greyhound” based on his sleek style on the court, but Barry never warmed to the name, and it understandably faded away. Somehow the man with a steely demeanor, obvious blonde wig, and underhand “grandma” free throw style made it through the rest of career without a real attempt at a nickname. One can only imagine that if any enterprising journalist or teammate attempted to christen Barry with any name he didn’t approve of, it would be greeted short-term with a blank stare and long-term with a passive-aggressiveness. It was this general attitude that did give him one informal nickname behind his back, “Rick the Prick.” Barry has had five basketball-playing sons, the oldest of which he named Richard Jr. Now wanting to be called Rick like his father, but with friends and teammates rejecting the formal Richard, he came to be known as “Scooter” as he helped Kansas win the 1988 NCAA championship.

7) Bob Pettit

His style wasn’t exactly the animated type of play that inspires sportswriters to wax ecstatic, and his personality lacked any traits that lent themselves to a playful corresponding nickname. If Pettit came along today, he’d probably pick up a nickname based on his sheer whiteness and efficiency. “Bob the Builder,” or something like that. As it stands, his lack of a nickname may be one of the reasons that Pettit is one of the most overlooked superstars in NBA history, despite being a two-time MVP, two-time scoring champ, and best player on the ’57-’58 Hawks that won the only championship in franchise history. It speaks to the cogency of a good nickname that lesser players like Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins and Marvin “Bad News” Barnes still live in exaltation, while Pettit, with his humdrum name and haircut you could set your watch to, is mostly appreciated only by the most dedicated of young NBA fans.