Chances are, you’re going to see some names during the NBA Draft that you’re not sure how to say. We’ve got you covered with our NBA Draft pronunciation guide.
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 Purdue looked pretty good in the Sweet 16 game you watched. You can also never say no to a 3-and-D player, I guess. They did also work out that shooting guard from…………IPFW? Is that a school? Wait, Indiana AND Purdue own another school? 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.
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 Fran Fraschilla University, we have compiled proper pronunciations for each potentially problematic player in the Sports Illustrated Top 100 prospect list. Any conceivable 2019 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 20th.
Darius Bazley — Darius BAYZ-lee
Goga Bitadze — GO-Gah Bih-TODD-zay
Bol Bol — Bowl Bowl (Don’t overthink it!)
Ignas Brazdeikis — IG-nass Brahs-DEE-kiss
Zylan Cheatham — ZY-lan CHEAT-am
Luguentz Dort — LOO-Gents Dort (Hard G)
Sekou Doumbouya — SAY-koo Dumb-BOY-ya
Rui Hachimura — ROO-ee Hatch-ee-MUR-ah
Jaxson Hayes — JACK-son Hayes
Talen Horton-Tucker — TAY-len Horton-Tucker
DaQuan Jeffries — Dah-QUAN Jeffries
Mfiondu Kabengele — FEE-on-doo KAH-ben-gel-ay (M is silent, hard G)
John Konchar — John KON-char
Jalen Lecque — JAY-len Le-CUE
Nassir Little — Nah-SEAR Little
Ja Morant — JAH More-ANT
Zach Norvell — Zach Nor-VELL
Josh Obiesie — Josh Oh-BEE-ess-ee
Chuma Okeke — CHEW-ma Oh-KAY-kee
KZ Okpala — Kay-Zee Ahk-PA-la
Miye Oni — MEE-yay OH-nee
Eric Paschall — Eric PASS-call
Luka Samanic — LUK-ah SAM-on-ich
Admiral Schofield — ADD-mer-all SKO-field
Marial Shayok — Mare-EE-all SHAY-ock
Simi Shittu — Sih-MEE SHE-too
Deividas Sirvydis — DAY-vee-diss Sir-VEE-diss
Alen Smailagic — AL-en Smile-ah-GEECH
Matisse Thybulle — Ma-TEES THY-bull
Tremont Waters — TREE-mont Waters
Quinndary Weatherspoon — Quin-DAIRY Weh-ther-SPOON
Milik Yarbrough –Mah-LEEK YAR-burr-oh
Yovel Zoosman — YO-vell ZEUS-man