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- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have two players with similar first and middle names.
- Both of them were named after the same two NBA players.
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Two players on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the same first name named after the same NBA Hall of Famer. As it would turn out, their middle names are also named after the same, but different NBA Hall of Famer.
After the 2022 season, the Bucs lost starting left guard Ali Marpet to retirement. Not long thereafter, starting right guard Alex Cappa left for the Bengals in free agency.
As a result, Tampa Bay had the need to inquire some new interior lineman. To do so, the team traded a fifth-round pick to New England for Shaq Mason.
Mason, born in 1993, is not the only ‘Shaq’ on the roster. Shaq Barrett, born in 1992, has played linebacker for the Buccaneers since 2019.
Obviously, their first names are the same, but they are spelled differently.
Barrett spells his first name Shaquil, while Mason spells his name Shaquille. While there are differences in spelling, they are named after the same person — the Shaq, as in Shaquille O’Neal.
In addition, they share similar middle names. Well, kind of.
Shaq Mason’s middle name is Olajuwon and Shaq Barrett’s middle name is Akeem. Once again, their middle names were given to them after the same person — Hakeem Olajuwon.
This is insane. We mentioned that new Bucs guard Shaq Mason is Shaquille Olajuwon Mason, named after the two former NBA stars. Well, his new teammate, Bucs pass-rusher Shaq Barrett, was born a year earlier in 1992, and is Shaquil Akeem Barrett, named after the same two players.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 24, 2022
Clearly, Shaq Barrett’s parents didn’t want to give their son the exact name of two NBA Hall of Famers, because they spelled Shaquille and Hakeem as Shaquil and Akeem, but it’s about as close as it can get. Shaq Mason’s parents were clearly not shy about giving their son the exact name of two NBA Hall of Famers because they just went for it.
Today you learned!