NBA Chinese Team Names

I was always a baseball fan although today I barely follow any kind of sport. Being a Cleveland sports fan tends to do that to the soul. It’s been more than 60 years for the Indians and might as well be another 60. The Cavs shoulda gotten it done when they still had Lebron , and the Browns hahaha the Browns. Fun times.

The Chinese ,however, love basketball. They have their own league , the CBA, which is loaded with foreigners playing , and they follow the NBA quite intensely. Every morning on the subway commute to work, when I can actually see the television screens through the wall of people, the news plays and the NBA games are given a quick recap.

Ever since the first time I saw these scores , I’ve had fun trying to read the Chinese equivalents for the teams and figuring out which team it is in English. The names make sense in Chinese and I’m surprised how many I can read and figure it out. Especially surprising that I remember the team names in English since I never payed close attention.

So here we go with a list of the teams’ Chinese names and an English translation . See if you can figure them out!

1. 快船  Fast Boats

2.国王 King

3.湖人 Lake people

4.太阳 Sun

5.勇士Brave Person

6.灰熊 Gray Bear

7.黄蜂Wasp

8.小牛Little Bull

9.火箭Fire Arrow

10.马刺 Horse Thorn

11.爵士Jue shi (transliteration- it’s trying to sound out the word)

12.掘金Dig Gold

13.雷霆Thunder

14.森林狼 Forest Wolf

15.开拓者Pioneer

16.76人 76 person

17.凯尔特人 Kai er te (transliteration) person

18.尼克斯 Ni ke si (transliteration)

19.篮网 Basket Net

20.猛龙Ferocious Dragon

21.山猫 Mountain Cat

22.老鹰 Eagle

23.热火 Heat Fire

24.魔术 Magic

25.奇才 Genius

26.雄鹿 Male Deer

27.公牛 Bull

28.骑士 Horseman, Knight

29.步行者 Pedestrian

30.活塞 Piston

Alrighty , here are the answers:

1. Clippers

2.Kings

3.Lakers

4.Suns

5.Warriors

6.Grizzlies

7.Hornets

8.Mavericks

9.Rockets

10.Spurs

11.Jazz

12.Nuggets

13.Thunder

14.Timberwolves

15.Trail Blazers

16.76ers

17.Celtics

18.Knicks

19.Nets

20.Raptors

21.Bobcats

22.Seahawks  Hawks（Update – Thanks Pat! I prove my ignorance of sports. This is especially bad seeing as how this is now the number 2 google link for Chinese NBA teams haha. I saw 老鹰(Eagle) and the first thing that popped to mind was Seahawks but that would be (American) football. Atlanta Hawks everyone , sorry!

23.Heat

24.Magic

25.Wizards

26.Bucks

27.Bulls

28.Cavaliers

29.Pacers

30.Pistons

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