Rankings the best NBA nicknames of all time

21. Grandmama

Sometimes a nickname can feel so natural as to be nearly organic, as is the case with Air Jordan, Dr. J or Clyde.  Other times, a little boost from the marketing department can catapult a player’s pseudonym to the forefront of consciousness, which is precisely how Converse’s Grandmama campaign featuring Charlotte Hornets All-Star Larry Johnson played out.

A member of the 1990 NCAA championship-winning UNLV Runnin’ Rebels along with Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon, Johnson entered the league as a high-flying volume scorer. As a Hornet, he helped put Charlotte on the map in the NBA, joining forces with Alonzo Mourning, Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry to lend credence to a nascent basketball franchise in an up-and-coming American city. In October 1993, Johnson signed a 12-year, $84 million contract that at the time was the largest in league history, perhaps leading to his feud with Mourning.

A back injury limited Johnson’s effectiveness from the middle of the decade onward, but Grandmama continued to perform after moving to the New York Knicks in 1996. His most famous play occurred in Game 3 of the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals, when he earned a trip to the foul line on a 3-pointer he made as Antonio Davis fouled him. It was controversial and earned the ire of many, including Bill Walton, and he made statements referring to slavery which did nothing to quell the fire. Even so, it was a play befitting of a wily, wise veteran… or a sneaker-sporting grandmother predicting the popularity of Tyler Perry’s Madea films a decade ahead of time.