15 excellent names for a Las Vegas NBA team

Let’s start with the casino-related team names, because that’s going to be the first impulse a lot of people have. Las Vegas’ WNBA team already grabbed Aces, and of course Sacramento’s NBA team is the Kings. Being the Las Vegas Jacks is maybe too far down the face card pecking order. Okay, but what do you want in Blackjack? Well, you want Blackjack. As such, they could get into the card-related name realm with Blackjacks, naming the team after a winning hand. And it sounds better than the Royal Flushes.

What’s gambling about? Well, it shouldn’t only be about winning, because if you are gambling solely out of a quest to win, that doesn’t sound terribly healthy, but obviously winning is a big part of it. Maybe you win a little, but maybe you win a lot. Maybe you win the proverbial jackpot. To that end, having a team name associated with winning big kind of makes sense.

Okay, this might be a bit too specific, and thus too Arena Football or Roller Hockey International, but we think it could work. It evokes authority and an imposing nature without tipping over into, shall we say, a version of crime that is well-organized. Plus, “Las Vegas Pit Bosses” scans really well.

One last casino/gambling term for you. Like Jackpots, High Rollers calls to mind tremendous success, and that’s good for a professional sports team. Unlike Jackpots, High Rollers also refers to people and not merely a concept.

Here’s a term with multiple uses, one tied to Vegas and one tied to basketball. “Treys” refers to the number three in multiple ways. If you had threes in a poker hand, you might say you have a “pair of treys.” In basketball, the three-point shot is also often referred to as a “trey,” so you might make “a pair of treys” in a quarter. Plus, this name makes more sense for an NBA team than it would have in, say, 1990.

Hey, until Arizona gets its hockey team back (if that ever happens), Coyotes is up for grabs. Sure, we were just doing the “What’s an imposing animal that has ties to the American Southwest?” and we landed on Coyotes. It’s a good name for a sports team from Nevada! In fact, we already evoked Roller Hockey International, and there was briefly a Las Vegas Coyotes in that league.

Nevada is the Silver State, but the Las Vegas Silvers, or even the Las Vegas Silver, doesn’t really work. Also, for as long as Adam Silver is the commissioner of the NBA, that might be confusing. We did figure out a way to tie the team name into the state nickname, though. Could they be the Nevada Silver Dollars? Maybe, but we’re guessing a sports team from Las Vegas is going to want to go with Las Vegas (or Vegas) over Nevada.

Sure, sagebrushes aren’t “intimidating,” but who cares? It’s the state flower of Nevada, and it’s a cool, distinct name for a sports team. Also, it’s not like Lakers or Celtics are imposing names, and those two franchises have done just fine.

Generally speaking, we grow weary of team nicknames that don’t end in the letter S. This is a place where we will make an exception, and not to honor the former Detroit indoor soccer team of the same name. Neon is, of course, associated with Las Vegas. Even though a lot of the neon signs in Vegas don’t actually use neon the element, colloquially the city is the place in this world most associated with neon.

This team name is tied to the city and would also be literal. Las Vegas is filled with entertainers of all sorts. Standups, singers doing residencies, and on and on. The city’s NBA team would be there to try and win, but fans would be there to root and to be entertained. It’s about as literal a team name as you can get aside from the Las Vegas Basketball Players.

Magicians are among the entertainers associated with Las Vegas. It is also a good, and more specific, name for a basketball team. “He’s a magician on the court” is a phrase you hear from time to time. When somebody dishes an incredible dime for Vegas’ NBA team, he could be both a Magician and a magician on the court.

Why isn’t there a major pro sports team in North America called the Bulldogs? All these teams and no Bulldogs? There are so many colleges where the team nickname is Bulldogs. It’s weird a pro team hasn’t done it, that’s all we’re saying.

When the Athletics, someday presumably the Las Vegas Athletics, took over the Las Vegas Triple-A team, they renamed it the Las Vegas Aviators. That is a good name, but from 2001 through 2018 they were the Las Vegas 51s. The Athletics changed it because they are, of course, fools and cowards. There was an alien in the 51s logo with baseball seams on their head! Las Vegas’ NBA team can right this wrong.

Outlaws was one of the final options for Utah’s hockey team before it became the Mammoth, but that means it is still available. Plus, in addition to being a good name, it’s tied to Las Vegas sports already. There was both an XFL and an Arena Football team named the Las Vegas Outlaws.

Speaking of Arena Football, one of the most successful franchises in that league was the Arizona Rattlers. Rattlers, of course, makes sense for a Vegas-based team as well. Las Vegas Rattlesnakes would also work, but we like Rattlers a bit better. It’s easier to chant, and the weird current iteration of the ABA had a Las Vegas Rattlers briefly as well.