Caleb Williams said that he had no idea that NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin’s nickname was “Iceman” and that his motive for trying to trademark the name was about “control.”

“It’s funny because I didn’t know, my dad probably knows his [Gervin] nickname was that,” Williams told Front Office Sports this week. “It’s not anything between me and George or anything like that, it’s more or less people making clothing or people making things like that, and I can’t control what people are making of me or anything like that and putting the name on it. And so it’s just to control that aspect of it. That was the main reason of doing it.”

Last week, it was reported that a company titled “Caleb Williams Holding, Inc.” submitted four trademarks in March related to “Iceman.” According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Bears quarterback filed the trademark so he could sell goods and services using the phrase.

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Days later, Gervin Interests LLC filed trademarks for “Iceman” and “Iceman 44,” a reference to Gervin’s jersey number.

While Gervin was known as “Iceman” much earlier than Williams, his late registration for the trademark was due to confusion over “the death of a business associate,” Gervin Global Management president and CEO Jerald Barisano told the Sun-Times.

The whole situation didn’t sit well with the 73-year-old Gervin, who told the paper that while he respects Williams, the “Iceman” nickname “is taken.”

Williams, for his part, said he has no ill will towards Gervin and hopes to speak to the NBA legend at some point.

“It’s all respect to George,” Williams said. “I didn’t know personally, and I understand, maybe what he’s trying to do. We haven’t talked, him and I, and we may talk at some point, but it was nothing between George and I.”

Williams also has no plans to withdraw his trademark requests, saying that while he didn’t like the nickname first, now he feels it “fits.”

“It’s the right fit, the right nickname, and so, I think it fits. Chicago’s freakin’ frigid for many, many months out of the year,” Williams said. “I think it fits. My teammates started calling me it, and it festered into a whole thing, whether it’s social media or the media side of it, and obviously it started with my teammates.”

It will likely takes months before the issue is sorted out and the “Iceman” trademark is awarded. Gervin, however, said he plans to contest the decision if Williams is given the trademark.

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“I’m really the ‘Iceman’ in sports,” Gervin told the Sun-Times.