Star Wars Day: NBA stars and their Star Wars counterparts

The NBA is the league of stars, packed with high-powered heroes and love-to-hate-them villains. It’s only fitting that we compare them to the universe of Star Wars, which is literally packed with stars and both heroes and villains are larger-than-life. Darth Vader is pure evil for most of the original trilogy and still one of the most popular fictional characters of all time.

Fans of the NBA exult in the accomplishments of their team’s stars, and begrudgingly respect the elite play of the opposing team’s stars. You love to root for Stephen Curry, and you love to hate LeBron James. The same goes for a galaxy far, far away, where you love Jar-Jar Binks and have a fondness for Nute Gunray. Wait, I may have gotten that last part wrong…

The personalities and gameplay of NBA stars line up with their Star Wars counterparts from a galaxy far, far away. Who is your favorite player most like?

The connections between NBA stars and Star Wars ones are numerous. From narrative similarities of overcoming the odds and conquering inner demons, to physical ones of high-flying athletes compared to Force-wielding Jedi, the two universes have plenty of parallels.

That includes the similarities between individuals as well. With that in mind, let’s walk through some of the biggest stars in the NBA and find their Star Wars counterparts. Occasionally the comparisons are so good we have to reach back in time a bit for the stars of yesteryear as well. We start with the NBA’s most popular player, and Star Wars’ most popular villain.