Spike Lee Shares Ray Allen’s Jersey Nickname, “Jesus Shuttlesworth”

Before the season started, when teams were preparing to head back to training camp, the NBA tossed around the idea of players wearing self-coined nicknames on the back of their jersey. The idea caused some consternation among some NBA players, and our own commenters, but the NBA has decided to go ahead and players for the Heat and Nets will rock their own nickname during special games this season. Spike Lee revealed Ray Allen‘s nickname choice on Instagram last night, and it’s not very hard to guess what he’s going with.

When the news about the nicknames broke, we already guessed Allen would rock the name of his titular character from Spike Lee’s classic He Got Game, one of the best basketball movies of all time. Spike confirmed it on Instagram last night, posting a photo of the front of Ray’s No. 34 Heat jersey and then posting the back with “Jesus Shuttlesworth” adorning the top.

The caption for the Shuttlesworth pic reads:

“For A Few Select Games My Main Man Ray Allen Will Wear JESUS SHUTTLES WORTH On THe Back OF His Jersey. The Legend Of HE GOT GAME Continues To Grow.Da Greatest Joint About BALL Ever Made.YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF”

He’s starting to sound a little like Ahmad Rashad with that “main man” diction, but it’s pretty cool he offered the sneak peek. We’re still not sure how we feel about the nickname idea, but we’re pretty sure you do.

[h/t: FTW]

What nicknames are you hoping to see on a jersey?

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