Rankings the best NBA nicknames of all time

17. The Dream

Or, if you know him personally, simply “Dream.”

Let’s say that you’re an NBA center in the early nineties. Congratulations! Unless you are truly dominant, which for our purposes is not the case, you serve a few basic functions and are on your way. You’re probably a gigantic, plodding monolith whose core value on offense is to shoot from no more than three feet from the basket. On defense, though, you earn your keep… except against the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon.

Here is how it goes: Olajuwon receives the ball somewhere in the mid-post. He takes a dribble and, palming the ball, motions hard to one side, absolutely intending to rise up and take a shot. You move to counter, except…well, Olajuwon isn’t there. He’s already faked his way to the other side, where you are not, on his way to an easy turnaround bucket. But he was just there! Was it an apparition? Was he a ghost? Are you imagining things?

It was all The Dream. Formerly “Little Moses,” after Moses Malone, the University of Houston product launched a revolution in footwork among big men, and his Dream Shake is the patented legacy move many young centers learn. Olajuwon was almost too good: after losing to an all-time great Boston Celtics team in 1986 alongside Ralph Sampson, Dream took command of the Houston Rockets, developing into an all-around force and culminating in back-to-back NBA championships.

He was the last player to win the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player despite not playing for the championship team. He was the 1994 NBA MVP, a constant presence on All-Defensive Teams and a leading rebounder for the better part of two decades. He thrice led the NBA in blocks. He was, put simply, a player of dreams, with a nickname to match.