In the PC era, teams have to drop nicknames that refer to lethal projectiles, but players can still don the names of deadly weapons. Here are some of my favorites.

Pete Maravich: Pistol Pete. His name was Pistol and he wore 44. He was packin’ every time he stepped on the court.

Steve McNair: Mac 9. If McNair has another couple of games like Monday night’s mess, he’s gonna be downgraded to a pellet gun.

Andrei Kirilenko: AK 47. The gun won’t cry if you don’t use it for a while.

Chuck Person: The Rifleman. Woulda been sweet if he had played for the Bullets.

Ron Jaworski: The Polish Rifle. He watches NFL game film through a high-powered scope.

Eric Piatkowski: The Polish Rifle. I say Jaws and Piatkowski have a Polish battle to the death… Last man standing is The PR.

Molly Bolin: Machine Gun Molly. Don’t know much about her but women’s basketball has devolved in the looks department.

Here’s a few that can be added to the list..

Steve Francis: The Rocket Launcher. Stevie’s gonna need to keep it pon lock as the 3rd or 4th option in Houston.

Hank Aaron: 44 Magnum. Go ahead, break my record.

Jayson Williams: Shotgun.

Bob Gibson: The .45. MJ got a little consideration here, but MJ’s 45 wasn’t reliable.

Kim Kardashian: The Bushmaster. The weapon you want if you need to lay down a lot of men.

Barry Bonds: Barry doing this:

Is like going from a .25 (24)

to a Desert Eagle.