The whole “Sauce Castillo” phenomenon has to be one of the best internet stories of the basketball season, and the best part is how much everyone surrounding the Sacramento Kings has embraced the name.
For those new to the story, “Sauce Castillo” is the nickname of Kings rookie shooting guard Nik Stauskas. The beauty of this nickname is how it was derived and how quickly it has caught on.
Back on March 24 when the Kings beat the 76ers 107-106, a fan by the name of Andrew Unterberger sent a brilliant tweet that went viral.
My closed captioning just referred to Nik Stauskas as "Sauce Castillo" and I will never be able to not call him this again
— Andrew Unterberger (@AUgetoffmygold) March 25, 2015
Here’s a screenshot of the closed captioning error:
The tweet started circulating, and those associated with the Kings picked up on it. The team embraced it a day later by using the name in a tweet:
Sauce Castillo spins and wins! https://t.co/CY54L0aJtQ
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 26, 2015
TV news anchors began calling him that in their news reports:
Second #SauceCastillo from @BMayNews10. Now I'm going to sleep. pic.twitter.com/R0O2E6fZas
— Nancy Daley (@NancyDaley) March 26, 2015
Basketball Reference caught on:
Basketball Reference is on board now. So good. #SauceCastillo pic.twitter.com/rNPc94DXut
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) March 26, 2015
And before long, Stauskas himself had no choice but to embrace the name:
Lol this Sauce Castillo thing escalated way too quickly!!!
— Nik Stauskas (@NStauskas11) March 26, 2015
So, @NStauskas11 is now "Sauce Castillo"? I would say, "Awesome Sauce!" but that's too easy. #Vote4SauceCastillo pic.twitter.com/4uqmcXPVcO
— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) March 26, 2015
Less than two weeks later, the Kings decided to capitalize on the nickname. The team announced that Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz will be “Sauce Castillo Night.” They will be giving away Sauce Castillo hot sauce bottles, and they will have Sauce Castillo T-shirts available at their team store.
We salute the Kings for the awesome idea and wish we could be there to enjoy the fun evening.
