The Basketball Reference nickname section is one of the great delights of being an NBA fan. They comb the deep recesses of the Internet to find every possible nickname used for NBA players so that even people like De’Aaron Fox who have one clear nickname, “Swipa,” have random additional ones listed, such as “The General” and “Quick.” And seriously, “Quick”?

Harrison Barnes doesn’t really have a commonly-used nickname. The closest he gets is when people call him HB, but otherwise it’s just Harrison or Barnes. But as Barnes acknowledged on “The Full 48” with Howard Beck, he did create a nickname for himself in high school that pops up from time to time. As Barnes tells it, the staying power of the moniker surprises him to this day:

According to the old adage, you’re not allowed to create your own nickname, but if Barnes was making an homage to Bryant as he claims, then it only makes sense that he’d follow in Bryant’s footsteps by breaking that rule. It’s also interesting to hear Barnes refer to Michael Jordan as the “Black Cat” when he was widely known by so many other nicknames. And if you’re going to stick with the black prefix, “Black Jesus” is available.

As an aside, the fact that Barnes says he doesn’t “do much with it” didn’t prevent him from being mocked mercilessly at North Carolina for giving himself the nickname and trying to create brand for himself in the Kobe mold. Maybe that’s why he’s shied away from the Black Falcon in recent years.

Even in the moniker is infrequently used, it’s still a fun story. As a high school student, Barnes randomly created a nickname just in case he ever played at Rucker Park and 10 years layer, it’s the only nickname he’s ever had.