Rules: last letter of one player’s full name must match the first letter of the next player’s full name. Each player used once. How long a chain can you build from the 582 NBA players that played last season?

The answer: 121 players.

The longest chains all share the same core backbone, they differ only in who starts the chain.

Aaron Nesmith →(H)→ Harrison Ingram →(M)→ Maxime Raynaud →(D)→ Daniel Gafford →(D)→ Dariq Whitehead →(D)→ Darius Garland →(D)→ Dalton Knecht →(T)→ Trendon Watford →(D)→ Doug McDermott→(T)→ Thomas Bryant →(T)→ Trevon Scott →(T)→ Tristan Vukcevic →©→ Cedric Coward →(D)→ Dario Saric →©→ Chris Youngblood →(D)→ David Jones Garcia →(A)→ Al Horford →(D)→ Deni Avdija →(A)→ Andre Drummond →(D)→ DaQuan Jeffries →(S)→ Svi Mykhailiuk →(K)→ Kadary Richmond →(D)→ Daeqwon Plowden →(N)→ Naz Reid →(D)→ Dalano Banton →(N)→ Nique Clifford →(D)→ Daniss Jenkins →(S)→ Santi Aldama →(A)→ Andrew Nembhard →(D)→ Darius Brown →(N)→ Nikola Jokić →©→ Caris LeVert →(T)→ Tyler Kolek →(K)→ Kawhi Leonard →(D)→ De’Anthony Melton →(N)→ Nikola Jović →©→ Carter Bryant→(T)→ Toumani Camara →(A)→ Anthony Black →(K)→ Keshon Gilbert →(T)→ Tristan Enaruna →(A)→ Adem Bona →(A)→ Andersson Garcia →(A)→ A.J. Lawson →(N)→ Nikola Topić →©→ Corey Kispert →(T)→ Tristan da Silva →(A)→ AJ Green →(N)→ Nikola Vučević →©→ CJ McCollum →(M)→ Marcus Smart →(T)→ Taj Gibson →(N)→ Nicolas Batum →(M)→ Malik Monk →(K)→ Kevin Durant →(T)→ Tari Eason →(N)→ Neemias Queta →(A)→ AJ Johnson →(N)→ Noah Penda →(A)→ Aaron Gordon →(N)→ Nae’Qwan Tomlin→(N)→ Nate Williams →(S)→ Sean Pedulla →(A)→ Aaron Wiggins →(S)→ Scoot Henderson →(N)→ Nic Claxton →(N)→ Nick Richards →(S)→ Scottie Barnes →(S)→ Sion James →(S)→ Spencer Jones →(S)→ Steven Adams →(S)→ Sam Merrill →(L)→ Luke Kennard →(D)→ DeAndre Jordan →(N)→ Nigel Hayes-Davis →(S)→ Sam Hauser →®→ Reed Sheppard →(D)→ DeMar DeRozan →(N)→ Naji Marshall →(L)→ Landry Shamet→(T)→ Taylor Hendricks →(S)→ Scotty Pippen Jr. →®→ Ryan Nembhard →(D)→ Deandre Ayton →(N)→ Norman Powell →(L)→ Luguentz Dort →(T)→ Terance Mann →(N)→ Nick Smith Jr. →®→ RJ Barrett →(T)→ Tidjane Salaün →(N)→ Nickeil Alexander-Walker →®→ Rayan Rupert →(T)→ Tobias Harris →(S)→ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander →®→ Rudy Gobert →(T)→ Tosan Evbuomwan →(N)→ Norchad Omier →®→ Russell Westbrook →(K)→ Karlo Matković →©→ Cade Cunningham →(M)→ Malaki Branham →(M)→ Max Shulga→(A)→ Alex Morales →(S)→ Sharife Cooper →®→ Rob Dillingham →(M)→ Mo Bamba →(A)→ Alijah Martin→(N)→ N’Faly Dante →(E)→ Egor Dëmin →(N)→ Noa Essengue →(E)→ Elijah Harkless →(S)→ Sandro Mamukelashvili →(I)→ Isaiah Crawford →(D)→ Derik Queen →(N)→ Nolan Traore →(E)→ Enrique Freeman→(N)→ Noah Clowney →(Y)→ Yuki Kawamura →(A)→ Alondes Williams →(S)→ Sidy Cissoko →(O)→ Obi Toppin

Length: 121 players

Why It Stops at 121

The remaining 461 players are stranded, most of them because their names start with a letter that nothing ends with.

Permanently stranded letters (nothing ends with them):

• J: 99 players start with J. Zero names end in J. Every single Jalen, Jayson, Jordan, Joel, Josh, Julius is a dead end. The J-army can only be the *beginning* of a chain, never the continuation.
• B: 30 players start with B. Zero names end in B. Brandon, Brook, Buddy, Bogdan, all dead ends if you need to continue.
• V: 5 players start with V. Zero names end in V.
• Q: 3 players start with Q. Zero names end in Q.

J alone locks out 99 of 582 players from the backbone. The most common first initial in the NBA is the most useless letter for name chains.

The Most Valuable Chain Players

By number of outgoing connections (how many players they can link to):

58 players start with D. Any name ending in D is a connector to 58 possible next players. This is why D→D chains (Daniel→Dariq→Darius→Dalton) form the spine of every long chain.

Most incoming connections, the players everyone wants to link to:

113 player names end in N. The N-starters are the most in-demand players in the chain game. Naz Reid is special — he has 113 incoming connections *and* 58 outgoing (ends in D), making him the single most connected node in the entire network.

Players Who Connect to Themselves (Auto-Chains)

20 players whose first name’s last letter matches their last name’s first letter — they form their own internal chain:

Notes:

• Chain rule: last letter of full name must equal first letter of next player’s full name
• 461 players not in the longest backbone chain, mostly J, B, V, and Q starters stranded without predecessors
• The backbone is stable across hundreds of different starting points; the core 100-player middle section appears in virtually every chain of length 100+

source for players: https://www.nba.com/players