Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat doesn’t get the publicity that his more famous teammates get, but he has always been the heart and soul of the team. When one of the Big 3 gets fouled hard, he is the enforcer who gets in the opponents face. He is the guy you love on your team but hate if he isn’t on your team.
Now it appears, he has been inspired by a current movie to give himself a new nickname.
From now on, Haslem says no longer wants to be called Udonis or ‘UD’. He said address him in 2013 as Django, FWIW.
— Michael Wallace (@WallaceNBA_ESPN) January 3, 2013
I am not a big fan of giving yourself a nickname (looking at you Black Mamba) and especially referencing something so recent. We dont know if Django is going to have cultural staying power so he may end up stuck with a lame nickname 2 years from now. He was formerly known simply as UD.
On a related note, there is not truth to the rumor that Shane Battier was similarly inspired by Les Miserables and would like to be referred to as “Jean Veljean”