I feel like I have been lied to and led astray. Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo has been using a fake name and I’m not sure what to even do with this news except be confused. Oladipo’s real name is, “Kehinde Babatunde”. Now, this is his actual name and was given to him at birth. It’s no secret that Oladipo has strong family ties to Nigeria and we can all assume that’s where his namesake came from. However, I have no fucking idea where he got Victor Oladipo.

In college I had a roommate who was from the Domincan Republic of The Congo, and he even stated that most African families will try to assimilate into American culture by changing their name to something more common in the states. Now to me it feels like whitewashing our African immigrants is a bad idea, however if the families go out and do it themselves we have no room to bicker.

Victor Oladipo's Heat debut shows why his playmaking and defense are  exactly what Miami's been missing - CBSSports.com

The most confusing part on all of this is that no matter where I look I cannot for the life of me see where his family came up with the last name, “Oladipo”. Typically from my experience when these families change their names it’s usually only the first name as they take massive pride in their family names. Oladipo is obviously a household name in the NBA now and it doesn’t really matter what his name is or was but the dude can play high level baseketball and competes like no other.

In closing I only type this because it creates a massive wormhole of professional athletes who have changed their names. I mean think about it, what if Mike Trout’s actual name was “Jonathan Stewart” and he switched to Mike Trout because it gives a little more *oompf. Would be wild.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcd2vad9c6s
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