Ranking All 30 NBA Team Hashtags
The teams can’t mess these up, right?
Just before the start of the season, the NBA and Twitter unveiled each team’s new hashtag activated emoji, or as Twitter calls them hashflags.
I’ve read through a few other rankings so far and they’ve all been wrong. And since it’s standard Internet procedure to voice your opinion when you see someone say something you disagree with online, I told my kids they would have to fend for themselves tonight while I go right this wrong.
Since I have a background in design, my list is going to look a lot different than other lists you might come across. I’m a firm believer in simplicity and as you’ll see from my list, I tend to favor that.
30. L.A. Clippers #ItTakesEverything
#ItTakesEverything in me not to roll my eyes at this one. Clippers gonna clip.
29. Dallas Mavericks #MFFL
What does this even stand for? Do only Maverick fans know? Because I sure don’t. What’s wrong with just #Mavs?
28. Washington Wizards #DCFamily
#DCFamily makes me think of a corrupt political family doing shady things. Way to go Wizards.
27. Milwaukee Bucks #OwnTheFuture
Did they steal this from a 19 year old girl’s Pinterest board?
26. Philadelphia 76ers #MADEinPHILA
Not bad, but do the Sixers remember how bad they’ve been the past few years?
25. Miami Heat #HEATIsOn
Nothing says Miami Basketball like a soft-rock hit from the 80s.
24. Minnesota Timberwolves #PowerOfThePack
This would undoubtedly vault to top-5 instantly if the Timberwolves also used the theme music from the WolfPac of WCW during their pregame intros.
Those were the days…
23. Orlando Magic #LetsGoMagic
22. Atlanta Hawks #TrueToAtlanta
21. Indiana Pacers #GoPacers
20. Sacramento Kings #SacramentoProud
19. Phoenix Suns #WeArePHX
18. Denver Nuggets #MileHighBasketball
17. Chicago Bulls #BullsNation
16. Houston Rockets #Rockets50
All of these are just so generic that I have absolutely nothing to say about them. And that says a lot.
15. Detroit Pistons #DetroitBasketball
If you’re not reading this hashtag like, Deeeeetroit Baaaaasketball then you’re doing it wrong. This one didn’t get thrown in with the list above only because it reminds me of Chauncey, Rip, and the boys.
14. Brooklyn Nets #BrooklynGrit
Being a designer, I was under the impression that there were only hipsters in Brooklyn. I don’t know if “grit” is what comes to mind when I think of hipsters (and therefore Brooklyn), but oh well.
13. Golden State Warriors #DubNation
12. San Antonio Spurs #GoSpursGo
11. Oklahoma City Thunder #ThunderUp
These 3 teams already had these hashtags going before the NBA gave every team their own. So now they just get their own emoji to go along with it. I’ll be honest, I don’t care for the Warriors emoji. I know they shoot a lot of threes, but still, I would’ve much rather seen them go with their team logo.
10. Utah Jazz #TakeNote
Not bad. Utah was the only team to come up with something new that also wasn’t embarrassingly corny. The play on words was nice.
9. Memphis Grizzlies #GrindCity
8. Charlotte Hornets #BuzzCity
7. Portland Trailblazers #RipCity
You almost can’t go wrong with having a “City” nickname. Portland’s been rocking Rip City since the 1970s.
6. Cleveland Cavaliers #DefendTheLand
If they dropped “Defend” I think it would be much cooler. Also, when did Cleveland start referring to itself as “The Land”? I don’t remember ever hearing it during LeBron’s first stint with the city. I’ve only heard it since his return.
5. Toronto Raptors #WeTheNorth
This is one of those marketing campaigns that turned into something long term. We The North is now the battle cry, not just for Toronto, but all of Canada. It was only right the Raptors used it as their official hashtag.
4. Los Angeles Lakers #LakeShow
One of the coolest nicknames for a team hands down. And I hate the Lakers.
3. New Orleans Pelicans #Pelicans
2. New York Knicks #Knicks
1. Boston Celtics #Celtics
Why are the Celtics, Knicks and Pelicans in my top-3 when everyone else had them ranked dead last? Simplicity, that’s why. In the case of the Celtics and Knicks, they have so much history, they don’t need some cutesy catchphrase.
Everybody else is complaining that they’re too plain, but that’s exactly why I like them. As you can see in the entire list for every NBA team, most teams got their hashtags dead wrong. Some of them are downright cringeworthy (I’m looking at you Clippers). When you give the PR team the keys to your hashtag, that is what happens.
So I applaud Boston, New York (this may be the only good decision they’ve made in the last few years, that and drafting Porzingis), and New Orleans for doing it right. Maybe they knew better than to let their PR team come up with something stupid.
We’re the Celtics, we’ve got the most banners in the NBA, we don’t need some corny hashtag like #OwnTheFuture. We’re the dang Celtics.
Plus they’ve got the little leprechaun guy as the emoji. How could they not be number one based off of that alone? Plus he’s smoking a pipe.
Hashtag Celtics. Boom.
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My name is scott smoker and I write about basketball and other stuff every week on my website roundballsupply.co. You can also find me on Twitter.
