Austin Reaves is now searching for a new nickname other than AR-15 and Hillbilly Kobe

Wow. Big news circulating the internet today stating that Austin Reaves is searching for a new nickname other than ‘AR-15’ and ‘Hillbilly Kobe’.

Austin Reaves is searching for a new nickname other than ‘AR-15’ and ‘Hillbilly Kobe’.

Thoughts on a new nickname? pic.twitter.com/G4u3yIAayC

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 22, 2022

If you don’t know who Austin Reaves is, that’s perfectly fine. Not many people do. He has only played a total of 61 games in the NBA, avering 23.2 minutes, 7.3 points, and 3.2 rebounds per game. 

I will give a tiny bit of credit to Reaves here. In an interview with ESPN, he did acknowledge that a person can’t really control the nicknames that are given to them and he didn’t give himself those nicknames.

“I don’t condone any gun violence that happens around our country,” Reaves told ESPN. “But you can’t really control what [nickname] people give you. I mean, I didn’t come out and say my name was that. There’s been others, like the ‘Hillbilly Kobe,’ that probably aren’t the best thing in the situation that’s going on, with Kobe’s passing.”

However, there’s a very simple solution to this problem and I’m confused as to why there needs to be a public plea for a new nickname. Earlier this week, University of Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, who also wears No. 15 on his uniform, came out with a similar statement saying that he wants to distance himself from the AR-15 association. 

However, neither Reaves or Richardson considered just changing their uniform number?

That seems a bit odd. 

Richardson wants to simply drop the “-15” from his nickname and have his team working on new branding. The reports on Reaves state that he wanted No. 12 but that’s worn by Kendrick Nunn already and although he tried No. 31 in Summer League, “he just didn’t really like how it looked” on him. 

Given the fact that both players have the opportunity to change their numbers and neither even mentioned it in both of their statements, I’m going to do what the kids on social media do and call “cap” on both instances. 

It feels like both players just wanted to come out and make a statement thinking that they are both doing something incredibly noble and everyone would praise them for their “efforts” against gun violence and the “AR-15” nicknames.

Not to mention, anyone who thinks an NBA basketball player’s nickname is “triggering” or “offensive” because it is a play off the name of a gun is also an idiot. Seek mental help. It’s not that serious and not everything has to be political. 

Here’s a suggestion for Austin Reaves new nickname courtesy of a random NBA Twitter account

Sorry boys, I’m not buying it. Just change your numbers and keep it moving. Not to mention, both nicknames shamelessly rip off one of the best nicknames in NBA HISTORY. For the kids at home. Let me introduce you to Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz, known to us “old heads” as AK-47. 

Let’s all agree to stop worrying about irrelevant athletes and their nicknames, assigned to them by fans, being offensive. It’s such a boring topic and for the most part, a shallow attempt at actually making a real, significant change to the issue at hand.