The “Shabazzle-Dazzle” nickname for Shabazz Napier is overplayed, in my opinion. And since I am the world’s foremost expert on NBA player nicknames (having coined a large percentage of the total nicknames in circulation myself), my opinion is basically fact. I am going to use my domain-specific knowledge here to throw my weight around a bit and unilaterally decree a new nickname for Napier, and you’ll be really proud of me, because this new nickname doesn’t even make a reference to the fact that LeBron James drafted Napier for the Heat and then left the Heat because Napier sucked:
“Shazabb!”
Damn, that’s such a good nickname that I feel like explaining it any further will just ruin it. Like a punchline to a good joke, it works best if left to sit out in the air after it’s said: “Shazabb…”
Basically, it’s an homage to the 2019 blockbuster hit Shazam!, a movie that I don’t know the plot of. I also don’t know who acted in it. I’m not even sure what filmographic genre it falls under or whether or not it succeeded at the box office. But I do know that it was a movie, and therefore has some cultural relevancy. Cultural relevancy is important when it comes to nicknames.
The odd spelling of “Shazabb” comes from swapping the “B” and “Z” sounds in Shabazz’s name to more closely match the name of the movie. That should have been obvious to you, but I know there’s some real dumb-dumbs out there trying to make sense out of my too-intelligent video descriptions, so I stooped to your level and spelled it out for you.
Shazabb. Shazabb! Yeah, this one’s a keeper.