There hasn’t been much to get excited for when it comes to Sacramento Kings rookie Nik Stauskas.
Taken with the 8th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Stauskas hasn’t been the player owner Vivek Ranadive or the Sacramento front office envisioned when they selected the Michigan guard.
Playing behind second-year guard, Ben McLemore, Stauskas has only been able to produce 4.3 points per contest. However, Stauskas has been one of Sacramento’s main attractions this season. Although, it has nothing to do with his on-court play, but rather a television blunder that has led to a worldwide phenomenon.
During a March 24th game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Sixers fan/ Spin contributor, Andrew Unterberger, relayed a rather interesting tidbit on his twitter. As the closed caption rolled across the screen, the name “Sauce Castillo” was displayed in place of Nik Staukskas.
Of course, this could have been a mere coincidence or something Unterberger had imagined, but when Deadspin went back and pulled the footage sure enough there it was, Sauce Castillo.
Upon hearing the news Stauskas took to twitter and had the following to say.
“What does “Sauce Castillo” mean? Since when was that my nickname lol.”
The name has become a marketing campaign for the ages, and Sacramento has capitalized. The team hosted Sauce Castillo Night at the Sleep Train Arena on April 5th. Every fan in attendance received a Sauce Castillo labeled hot sauce bottle that read, “Born In Cananda, Captioned in Sacramento.”
It might not have been a successful rookie season for Stauskas, but at least he can lay claim to the best nickname in all of professional sports.