Random Phenomenon: “Waves” of Player Names

There’s a random little phenomenon I’ve noticed with NBA player names in recent years: some relatively uncommon player last names come in bundles either in successive years or in the same year. I went down the rabbit hole of looking at all player names on Basketball Reference and noted down the ones that jumped out at me.

Bey: Saddiq and Tyler both in 2020 draft; no other Bey in NBA history
Black: Anthony and Leaky both from 2023 draft; last Black was Tarik in 2014
Bridges: both Mikal and Miles in 2018; last Bridges before them was Bill in 1962
Diallo: Cheick in 2016 and Hamidou in 2018; no other Diallo in NBA history
George: Keyonte in 2023 and Kyshawn in 2024; last one was Paul in 2010
Gueye: Mouhamadou and Mohamed both in 2024; no other Gueye in NBA history
Hayes: Jaxson in 2019 and Killian in 2020; last one was Chuck in 2005
Mann: Terrence in 2019 and Tre in 2021; no other Mann in NBA history
McLaughlin: Jordan in 2019 and JaQuori in 2021; no other McLaughlin in NBA history
Murray: both Jamal and Dejonte in 2016; last one before them was Ronald in 2002
Nembhard: RJ in 2021 and Andrew in 2022; completely unrelated families; last one before RJ was RJ’s dad, Ruben, in 1997
Payne: Adreian in 2014 and Cameron in 2015; last one was Kenny in 1989
Porter Jr (my favorite one): Michael in 2018 and Kevin in 2019; last one before them was Otto in 2013; the three juniors are somehow completely unrelated
Sharpe: DayRon in 2022 and Shaedon in 2023; last one was Walter in 2009, no other Sharpe in NBA history
Sheppard: Ben in 2023 and Reed in 2024; last one was Jeff in 1998 (Reed’s dad)
Tyson: Hunter in 2023 and Jaylon in 2024; no other Tyson in NBA history

P00ped_My_Pants | Heat

29 | 3 hours ago

The Porter Jrs threw me off for a while. When Michael and Kevin came into the league I thought they were the same player. I knew one of them had their dad as a college coach and took me a while to figure it out

also wtf I just learned that Jontay Porter is MPJ’s brother? Why didn’t I know that until now?

EchoHevy5555

11 | 3 hours ago

I thought the bridges were brothers on draft night and I thought it was so whack that his mom just stayed with Mikal while miles was being drafted

BrotherSeamus | Thunder

3 | an hour ago

And now we know it would not have been whack at all

The_Vaike | Celtics

4 | 3 hours ago

You don’t know about the Porter Jr brothers? Their dad had his name changed so he could name all of his kids after him, except for Otto who’s named after mom

ParticularEggplant16 | Warriors

20 | 3 hours ago

You forgot Craig porter Jr on the Cavs!

ChopSueyMusubi

-5 | 3 hours ago

Craig came after Kevin. I didn’t count players that came after the initial “wave”.

CliffBoof

20 | 3 hours ago

Its a clustering illusion and would be highly improbable if it didnt happen. If you looked through NBA history and didn’t find clusters like this, that would be suspicious.

dfrank129 | Pacers

1 | 26 minutes ago

My type of redditor! Be patient with the doubters though, it’s not an intuitive thing to grasp.

ChopSueyMusubi

-5 | 3 hours ago

I don’t think it would be suspicious if this did not occur. I mean, would you be shocked if two unrelated players named “Gueye” did not debut in the same year?

IMO it’s both surprising and unsurprising that this occurs. The probability of this many “waves” happening has to be extremely small, but at the same time, on a planet with billions of people, it’s not a total surprise if the stars do align once in a while.

CliffBoof

21 | 3 hours ago

You’re calculating the probability of a specific coincidence. But when you scan thousands of names across decades, the relevant probability is that some coincidences occur. With that many trials, clusters are expected, not rare.

phluidity | Celtics

4 | an hour ago

It isn’t so much about there being two “Gueye”s that is expected, it is that there are hundreds of players each year that have uncommon names. Over time you will randomly have two players with the same uncommon name.

It is a more generic version of the “Birthday problem”. If you take a random NBA game, the odds are better than 50-50 that two players on the combined rosters share the same birthday.

ChopSueyMusubi

1 | 10 minutes ago

It has one more variable than the birthday problem. In that, it’s just any two people with one common trait. In this scenario, it’s two traits that both need to align: name and draft year.

BcuzRacecar

12 | 3 hours ago

Good post finally some oc research here

Cythripio | Jazz

9 | 2 hours ago

I’ve never heard of the names Hardaway or Stoudemire outside of the NBA and both times there were 2 players each at the same time.

BionicSix | Lakers

1 | 42 minutes ago

then you have Stoudamire…

lalakingmalibog | Mavericks

1 | 28 minutes ago

I used to think Penny and Anfernee were brothers

Moroccan_baller23

5 | 3 hours ago

Keegan Murray too

PassMeTheBackwood | Knicks

6 | 3 hours ago

I thought Terrence Mann and Tre Mann were brothers for like 5 years

Nails__DeChamp

2 | 3 hours ago

I’m just shocked they were drafted a year apart. I feel like Tre’s still a young prospect and Terrence has been around forever.

edit: actually it’s 2 years apart, OP’s post is incorrect. I feel a little better now.

ChopSueyMusubi

1 | 3 hours ago

Fixed!

lalakingmalibog | Mavericks

1 | 28 minutes ago

Don’t forget Juwanna

Jack_The_Sparrow_ | Warriors

3 | 3 hours ago

Actually pretty cool insight. I’m curious if we’ll ever see this with some favorites like: Ozamataz Buckshank, Donkey Teeth, or Torque (Construction Noise) Lewith?

StudioGangster1

3 | 3 hours ago

I feel like Wiggins should be on here. But that might be more of a college thing

TheNaturalHigh | Cavaliers

5 | 2 hours ago

How would the Porter Jr’s be possibly related? Doesn’t make any sense lmao

Jdiggedy

3 | 2 hours ago

No love for Ryan Nembhard?

Spiritual-Bar-5618 | Thunder

2 | 3 hours ago

The nba is a simulation bro

flexingtonsteele | LAL

3 | 3 hours ago

Don’t forget the hundred Jalen’s /s

ChopSueyMusubi

-2 | 3 hours ago

You know this list is for last names, right…?

Personally, I would not mind a Jalen Jaylen.

Beneficial_One_272

2 | 3 hours ago

it’s terance mann, for a post about names you gotta spell them right!

braddeus | Heat

1 | 3 hours ago

Reserve a spot for Julius Konan Niederhauser

_crapitalism | Nets

1 | 3 hours ago

i could’ve sworn the nba was majority black

AFonziScheme

1 | 2 hours ago

And I’m pretty sure the first man to play in the nba was before 2019.

hymen_destroyer | Celtics

1 | 2 hours ago

Okafor there was Emeka and Jahlil (I don’t think they were related) but they were about 10 years apart so I don’t know if that counts

LetsGoLesko8 | Raptors

1 | 2 hours ago

This would absolutely be the top trending post in r/NBA if it was August

takhomasakSWG

1 | an hour ago

I think it’s actually crazier that we haven’t had a sam in the league since samuel dalembert retired in 2015. from 1958 to 2015 there was almost always a sam.

ChopSueyMusubi

1 | 32 minutes ago

Sam Merrill?

lalakingmalibog | Mavericks

1 | 25 minutes ago

They retired the name Sam after Sam Hinkie died for the Sixers in 2016

Flashy-Job6814

1 | 18 minutes ago

What about Jalen, Jaylen, Kaylin, Jalen, Jalen, and Jailen?