Which NBA Teams Have No Mascot?

(Last Updated On: November 2, 2021)

With the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Season kicking off soon, even non-basketball fans have probably caught wind of the new shenanigans and matchups to commemorate big dates within the long life of the NBA. But new current events aside, you’ve probably seen those big suited mascots advertising their teams on the court. They’re present in more than just basketball, but sometimes teams just… Don’t have a mascot. So while we’re thinking about the NBA, which NBA teams have no mascot?

Also, it’s not just NBA teams missing a mascot: Which NFL Teams Have No Mascot?

Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets have had mascots before–though all of them have been retired. At first, they tried their hand with Duncan the Dragon. There’s no origin story beyond the Nets almost changing their name to the Swamp Dragons. 

In 1997 they brought out Sly the Silver Fox, who presumably ate Duncan the Dragon, but Sly was retired in 2012. Sly was replaced with the BrooklyKnight, meant to be a play on “Brooklynite.” The BrooklyKnight looked like a dollar store Batman and was retired in the 2014-2015 season for not being cool enough. 

Maybe they should just put a net on a dude like a bad ghillie suit and call it day.

Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors once had a mascot. Their name was Thunder and they wore a giant blue foam buff-suit and a yellow cloth over his head. You know, that kind of ambiguous superhero vibe that doesn’t infringe on any other superhero copyrights or something. Thunder was retired in 2007. There was also the Berserker, who only lasted like one season.

Los Angeles Lakers

One of the most common rebuttals to the Lakers not having a mascot is the amount of celebrity presence they have. Big names in basketball like Kobe Bryant, Shaq, and Magic Johnson are known to those who don’t even know how basketball is played. Why use a weird guy in a suit when you can just say a name?

New York Knicks

The New York Knicks get their name from Dutch colonizers in the 1600s. They wore pants called “Knickerbockers,” and “Father Knickerbocker” became a symbol for New York for a while back then. We’re pretty sure a colonial era dude in old pants isn’t going to make for a very strong mascot, though. 


See if you know the teams that do have a mascot here.

About the Author:

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Kyler is a content writer at Sporcle living in Seattle, and is currently studying at the University of Washington School of Law. He's been writing for Sporcle since 2019; sometimes the blog is an excellent platform to answer random personal questions he has about the world. Most of his free time is spent drinking black coffee like water.

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