Rankings the best NBA nicknames of all time

4. Air Jordan

We begin with one of the acknowledged GOATs, a man whose resume even the most casual NBA fan could rattle off in an instant: NCAA champion, six-time NBA champion, six-time NBA Finals MVP, five-time NBA MVP, yadda yadda yadda. Michael Jordan is the default greatest to most people, and with good reason. The Miami Heat retired his jersey number without him ever having played for the franchise. That’s respect.

Before he became the world-conquering consummate champion-turned-bitter, self-congratulatory meme, Jordan was a high-flying blur, as capable of Dr. J-esque twists midair on his way to a dunk as dropping the hammer on an ankle-breaking step back and draining a two in his defender’s face. Jordan was always going to be great; it took waiting out Magic, Bird and Isiah for him to fully realize his destiny and destroy any fond memories fans of Eastern Conference teams other than the Chicago Bulls may have had in the 1990s.

Even before he was a two-time Slam Dunk Contest champion, however, he already had a shoe line dedicated to his early acrobatic style and considerable flair for theatrics. The prototype for the Air Jordan 1, the Nike Air Ship, led to a ban on shoes featuring less than 51 percent white in their colorway. The Air Jordan name stuck with the man himself, who would later go by MJ, His Airness and a host of other monikers. Air Jordan is so simple as to almost be divine, a name for a man who transcended sport and culture for two decades and beyond.