It’s NBA Draft night. Your team is up. You wonder who they’re going to pick. The team needs a backup point guard, and that guy from West Virginia looked pretty good in the Sweet 16 game you watched. You can also never say no to a 3+D player, I guess. They did also work out that shooting guard from…………Oakland? Is that a school? Wait, that’s in Michigan? Whatever. They seemed to like him.
Here’s Adam Silver. Let’s go. Just get a rotation player. Any will do!
Wait, who? From Where? I’ve seen that name before, but even Silver didn’t seem confident in that pronunciation. He’s from Serbia? Ok, that’ll do, we got the next Jokic! Is that how you say that? Is it “Joe-kich?” “Yo-kich?” “Yo-kick?” And this new guy’s name is twice as long! Oh, man, this dude has way more J’s in his name than I’ve ever seen. Our color commentator is going to screw this up for months.
This happens every year. In a league becoming ever-more worldly, the odds that your team is going to grab someone with a very difficult name to pronounce is getting higher. The chances that guy becomes a major player for you are also rising. That can present a problem. Everyone around the organization, from front office people, to TV and radio guys, to your fellow fans, is going to come up with their preferred way to say the name. Some will sound plausible. Others will…….not. And then right when you think you have it down, Charles Barkley will butcher the name so badly on TNT that it’ll cast doubt on your entire belief system.
[Cut to Raptors fans nodding in unison]
So you want to nail down that pronunciation? Teach the masses how to properly worship your new core piece? We have you covered. Through extensive film study of broadcasters and a degree in basketball linguistics from Kevin Harlan University, we have compiled proper pronunciations for each potentially problematic player in the Sports Illustrated Top 100 prospect list. Any conceivable 2018 NBA Draft pick likely to cause trouble is likely on this list, and we’ll walk you through the pronunciations for each. We’ve got you covered for June 21st.
Rawle Alkins – RAW-lee ALL-kins
Kostas Antetokounmpo – CO-stas Ahn-tet-oh-COON-po
Deandre Ayton – Dee-AHN-dray AY-ton
Isaac Bonga – EYE-zac BAWN-ga
Angel Delgado – AN-hell Del-GAH-doe
Hamidou Diallo – Ha-ME-do DEE-ah-low
Keita Bates-Diop – KAY-tah Bates DEE-op
Mikal Bridges – Mi-CALL
Jevon Carter – Je-VON
Bonzie Colson – Bon-ZEE COAL-son
Donte DiVincenzo – Don-tay DEE-vin-chen-zo
Luka Doncic – LOO-ka Don-CHICH
Trevon Duval – Tray-VON Do-VAL (pronounced like the name “Al”
Wenyen Gabriel – WEN-yen
Shai GIlgeous-Alexander – SHAY GIL-juss AL-eck-zan-der
Devonte’ Graham – De-VON-tay
Isaac Haas – EYE-zac HAHS
Devon Hall – De-VON
Kevin Huerter – Who-AIR-ter
Chandler Hutchison – HUT-chi-son
Alize Johnson – Ah-LEES
Kevin Knox – NOCKS
Arnoldas Kulboka – Are-NOWL-das Kool-BO-ka
Rodions Kurucs – Row-DEE-ons KOO-rooks
Matur Maker – Mah-TOUR Mah-KOOR
Yante Maten – Yan-TAY MAH-ten
De’Anthony Melton – De-AN-thon-ee MEL-ton
Chimezie Metu – Chi-MEZ-ee MEH-too
Doral Moore – Door-AL
Dzanan Musa – DJAN-an MOO-sa
Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk – Svee-AHT-o-slav Mik-EYE-luck
Malik Newman – Mah-LEEK
Elie Okobo – El-EE Oh-KO-bo
Josh Okogie – Oh-KO-gee
Malik Pope – Mah-LEEK
Landry Shamet – LAND-ree SHAM-et
Anfernee Simons – AN-fur-nee SIGH-mons
Zhaire Smith – ZY-air
Next: 30 best NBA poster dunks of all time
Omari Spellman – Oh-MAR-ee SPELL-man
Jared Terrell – Jared TEAR-ell
Khyri Thomas – KY-ree
Allonzo Trier – Ah-LON-zo TREE-er
Moritz Wagner – Mo-RITZ VAGG-ner
Kenrich Williams – Ken-RICK
Trae Young – TRAY