[The Ringer] Best NBA Names This Century: Dream #8 All-Time

We have legends on this list...

https://www.theringer.com/2025/10/06/nba/best-nba-player-names-ranked-21st-century
95. Pablo Prigioni
In this house we spell “passion” P-r-I-g-I-o-n-I. It has become very confusing for everyone who lives here, but we’ve committed to the bit and must see it through. I could not look my children in the face if I did not see this through.

85. Fred VanVleet
An injury will keep VanVleet off the court this season but not off this list. This is a name of its word, a name that would rather be erased than let you down. There’s the obvious stuff, the intra–last name alliteration of the v’s. The fact that the name makes him sound fast. The fact that the last name looks like a pickup truck. But look at the detail work here. Most names are going to separate the Van and the Vleet. But Fred VanVleet is not most names. It does not sound like most names. It does not operate like most names. It’s a rebel. It does what it wants. The Van and the Vleet say no, we are one. Together we stand, together we live. And the Fred here is essential. VanVleet is stunting so hard, belting it to the back row. We need something simple and timeless at the top. Fred gives us that.

79. Yao Ming
A name that isn’t gonna waste your time with bullshit pleasantries. Enough small talk. This name gets down to business.

71. Luc Mbah a Moute
Gets more beautiful by the syllable. A towering achievement.

62. Nenê
Nenê is so powerful it just drowns out everything else. The first name arrives with such force you’re just like, Yeah, I got it. And that’s saying something when he’s sitting on a last name like Hilario. This isn’t Schitt. This is a name with some flair that brings something significant to the table, and Nenê renders it absolutely useless. Round of applause for Brazil.

52. Cuttino Mobley
A name you can prance to.

46. Chuck Hayes
A name like an ox. A steady name. One you can count on. This is a name with health insurance and dental. He drives an old VW Rabbit with over 200,000 miles on it. Too many names these days don’t mean anything, but this one is a welcome exception. Chuck Hayes means “the steady hum of the tide.” It is synonymous with “ocean” and “infinity.”

42. Carmelo Anthony
A name so known and so smooth, you need only say the first. Madonna once said, “I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name. How could I be anything else but what I am, having been named Madonna? I would either have ended up a nun or this.” I think that’s true for many of the players on this list. Carmelo had to be a major NBA player. He would either have ended up that or a milliner to the stars, designing and purveying men’s and women’s luxury hats to our nation’s deepest pocketbooks. The name made it so.

40. Dikembe Mutombo
Some names just have all the fun. There are no weaknesses here. Every letter is operating at the top of its game. A name that reaffirms the mission. This is why we do this. This is what it’s all about.

39. Tracy McGrady
****ing stunning.

19. Stacey Augmon
A name’s name. One of elegance and discernment. A name that makes you put your hand over your heart and close your eyes.

11. Von Wafer
One of the foundational basketball names of the 21st century. We will never forget everything it’s given us. Made a genuine run at no. 1 and on the right day could’ve very well found itself at the top of the mountain. Impossible to overstate its influence.

9. Othella Harrington
A symphonic master class, a pink sunset, an art piece. It’s not just a name, it’s a call to arms, a call for change, a call for people to wear cool shoes and cool jackets.

8. Hakeem Olajuwon
A lyrical flourish. A warm name, wrapped in swaddling clothes and rainbow lights. It’s a name that comes with its own forward momentum. A kinetic name, a name that says: Here comes the show. And the show will be historic, and you will have no words for it. Hakeem Olajuwon is to names what dance is to movement. A name so light on its letters that it doesn’t have to touch the ground. If the name stays still, it’s because it wants to. Because this name is not bound by the physical. It does not operate as our names do. It’s much more abstract, bound by nothing, and stronger than time. It can float where it pleases and adapt to all situations, the letters unmooring themselves from papers and screens and jerseys. The name has the malleability of a dream. Speak it, and anything is possible.