I‘m not familiar with other US sports, but from what I understand, in the NFL for example players are usually called by their surname, right? Like Brady isn’t called „Tom“, Mahomes isn’t called „Patrick“, Rodgers isn’t called „Aaron“, etc.
Also, in european football it is common to call players by their surname. Messi, Ronaldo, Haaland, Mbappe, Lewandowski, Benzema, Bellingham etc… in 99% of the time football players are called by their full surname.
But now look at famous NBA players of the past: MJ, Kareem, Hakeem, Magic, Wilt, Shaq, Kobe, Dirk, etc.
Or famous players in todays league: LeBron, Giannis, Joker, Luka, Klay, Draymond, CP3, KD, Russ, AD, or famous rookies like Wemby, Chet.
Of course there are also famous players who are mostly called by their surname (Curry, Harden, Tatum, Booker, or in history guys like Bird, Duncan, Stockton etc). But rejecting the surname seems to be much more common in the NBA than in other sports league.
How did that come about? Was it always like that? What started this tradition?
I think it’s just whatever sounds cooler. There is no rule to this. The NBA imo has more swagger and also is more related to Black Culture than other leagues in the US.