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r/nba•
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NBA and soccer comparisons

I was thinking about Cristiano Ronaldo (potentially) moving to Man. City and finding NBA comps.

Messi to PSG is obviously his MJ Wizards period. Both were long time with the same team and earned huge salaries.

Mbappe to Real Madris is Durant from Warriors to Nets. He has won a lot by taking the hardest road, but now wants his own team.

Gareth Bale to Real Madrid is Anthony Davis to Lakers. He tries to win with his old team, but ultimately couldn't and once he got his move,he became a winner

Pogba to United is James Harden to Rockets. Enigmatic player who had succes with his last team and tried hard to win it all with the next one, but couldn't get over the hump. Now wants to join a sure thing in PSG/Nets

Harry Kane is Dame Lillard. Both want to win and can't do it with their team that they've been loyal to. Tried to get a move, but couldn't push it through

Cristiano Ronaldo is LeBron James. Moves teams quite often, bit past his best (you could say washed), but still great at scoring and winning at his age.

David Alaba/Raphael Varane are Kyle Lowry to Heat. They won everything with old team and want a new challenge and a very good payday.

Gordon Hayward to Celtics is Eden Hazard to Real Madrid. Both got their moves to historically bigger and more famous teams. Both instantly got injured and never lived up to hype.

Neymar is Kyrie Irving. Both won it all with the goat. Wanted own team, but couldnt do it and now arent first options again so they can take time off when they want to

Romelu Lukaku is Kawhi Leonard. Both brought long awaited trophy to the team and then bolted to another team.

Arsenal are Kings. Used to contend in 2003, but now they exist to get mocked

Posted Aug 27, 2021, 4:53 AM UTC

058
vanotro:lac-2: Clippers•

Messi to PSG is obviously his MJ Wizards period

I don't follow soccer that closely but isn't PSG spending a ton of money on stars to be a top tier team? The Wiz weren't really in that position when MJ came back. That team wasn't that good, wasn't exactly signing free agents left and right, and iirc MJ played for the minimum.

19
[deleted]•

Ya it’s more like Lebron going to finish his career in LA

18
_Meece_Lakers•

It's much more like Gretzky going to the Kings or Lebron to the Lakers

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vanotro:lac-2: Clippers•

more like Gretzky going to the Kings

that's a good comp

7
Xterratu:nyk-4: Knicks•

This.

1
moneybooy:bw-phi: Sixers Bandwagon•

Short summary: PSG has Qatar money, their boss is the owner the CEO of beIN sports group

6
vanotro:lac-2: Clippers•

So wouldn't PSG kind of be like the Clippers or the Nets? Maybe the Nets more than the Clips since the Nets have some good history.

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moneybooy:bw-phi: Sixers Bandwagon•

Clippers are a good comp. they haven’t won anything internationally and now signed Messi and Sergio Ramos

4
vanotro:lac-2: Clippers•

I thought PSG had some success in the 90's. Could be considered equivalent to the Nets Finals appearance in the early 00's. The Clip have never even made a Finals.

3
Agnk1765342:uta-1: Jazz•

They’d be like the clippers if Ballmer was free to spend 500 million a year on player salaries and still not win a title

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vanotro:lac-2: Clippers•

the clippers if Ballmer was free to spend 500 million a year on player salaries

I bet that would be kind of entertaining. Imagine how many non-all stars with overinflated sense of value would've been angling for a contract with the Clippers. Dinwiddie definitely would have been tweeting about it every day.

3
SBFVG:mke-3: Bucks•

Sounds like another blue and white LA team (please ignore the part about not winning a title)

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bilbosaur15Trail Blazers•

P$G

1
praneshwar•

ah the got the mullah bro . Bein owner who is the president of psg got all the mullah .bein is very very very big in middle east . literally every sports club restaurants u name it own rely on them for streaming sports stuff

1
moneybooy:bw-phi: Sixers Bandwagon•

He wasn’t in his prime back then but Lewa to Bayern was like KD to Golden State

Sancho to ManU is like AD to the Lakers or young Ronaldo to Real

I wouldn’t compare Harden to Pogba. I think it’s kinda like Suarez to Barca

9
schoolhater12:tor-2: Raptors•

Messi to PSG does not have an apt comparison but think about it this way: MJ instead of retiring to pursue baseball is forced to leave the Bulls because bulls overpaid the role players.

Cristiano going to Man City is like Shaq moving to the Celtics but if people actually cared. If he moves to City, a fan base with 100 million fans that used to blindly argue that he is the goat on only the basis that he once played for their team will turn against him. No Apt comparison.

Arsenal are not the Kings, they are champions of old. Pistons would be a more apt comparison.

Neymar and Kyrie is an apt comparison but Neymar is significantly better at football than Kyrie is at basketball. Same thing with Hazard and Hayward

The Kane & Dame comparison is apt.

Other comparisons are okay but not bad

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zmajxd:min-1: [MIN] D'Angelo Russell•

Ronaldo is still good while Shaq was washed.

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SBFVG:mke-3: Bucks•

Apt

2
bilbosaur15Trail Blazers•

Modern day Arsenal are the Bobcats tho

2
manibob_123:tor-1: Raptors•

Cristiano going to Man City is like Shaq moving to the Celtics but if people actually cared. If he moves to City, a fan base with 100 million fans that used to blindly argue that he is the goat on only the basis that he once played for their team will turn against him. No Apt comparison.

Wouldn't this be comparable to Lebron going back to the Cavs except older?

1
Thedownhilltrain:phi-3: 76ers•

Neymar is harden. Dribbles a lot and they both flop

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Wb17328:mke-1: Bucks•

Harden is infinitely thicker than Neymar though

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naslanidis•

Soccer has quite a lot of one team players. I don't think that's very common in the NBA and I'm not sure there's quite the same bitter rivalries but I could be wrong. I agree with a lot of your comparisons though.

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scorelesswilliamson•

Isn't comparing Hayward to Hazard all types of disrespect to the latter lol

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Big-Hunchho:bos-3: Celtics•

yes but the situation do kinda match up. Granted hazard won all sort of shit and was arguably a top 3 most entertaining player behind neymar and messi. he had an argument for top 3 best player during world cup.

hayward last season with the jazz was a top 15 player. at one point he was compared with pg and butler. was still like 26 at the time. got their dream move and injury fucked both of them up. even though hayward is getting back on his feet now with the hornets tho. hazard is just washed up.

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bilbosaur15Trail Blazers•

What the fuck is soccer?

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praneshwar•

its a american sub reddit so.......

2
The-Truer-Facts•

Gareth Bale to Real Madrid is Anthony Davis to Lakers. He tries to win with his old team, but ultimately couldn't and once he got his move,he became a winner

Pogba to United is James Harden to Rockets. Enigmatic player who had succes with his last team and tried hard to win it all with the next one, but couldn't get over the hump. Now wants to join a sure thing in PSG/Nets

Excuse me what? Bale spent a lot of time being benched at Real so idk what you call him. And for Man U Pogba is more like Wiggins. All the potential and dominates for his country but in his club (Minny) he looks like a FA bust more often than not. Hopefully he finds his Warriors though and can maintain consistency.

1
estpostOPNuggets•

Bales first time to Real Madrid was a huge success

1
The-Truer-Facts•

Definitely not his last 5 years as he barely started half the season. The first two but even then pretty underwhelming when you’re the 3rd best forward and can’t score more than 15 goals. He lost a ton of confidence as he went on, Ascensio and Isco were ahead of him. So I guess Mavs Porzingis

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0mantou0•

He scored 2 winning goals in the 2018 CL Finals

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The-Truer-Facts•

And that’s 1 game? He started 20 of 38 games. Mo Williams had a 40 point game once in 2015, it didn’t make him an All-star

0
jimmys_balls•

I thought this post was going to be about flopping...

1
bigbear-08:gsw-1: Warriors•

If Pogba is Harden, who’s Hardens Graeme Souness, strip clubs?

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madmaxk_47:gsw-1: [GSW] Robert Parish•

Strip club and hair stylers

1
RedFirenIce•

I’m gonna disagree with every single take there

1
Eric_Nathan_Fielder:gsw-1: Warriors•

The Kyrie-Neymar comp has always been so on point. Both flashy young exciting players that wanted to be the first option (in Neymar's case I'd argue money played a huge part as well). I think Messi to PSG would be if MJ was forced to leave the bulls in 1997 and he went to the Lakers or something.

1
Optism:bw-phx: Suns Bandwagon•

Chris Paul is Iniesta

Paul George is Griezmann (this one because of level of talent/public perception)

Popovich is Sir Alex Ferguson

Boogie is Balotelli

Messi is like if Curry was great enough to be the GOAT

Lillard is Hazard just because Hazard is to Messi what Lillard is to Curry.

Ramos is Draymond

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[deleted]•

[removed]

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SpecialPressure9983:tor-4: [TOR] Kyle Lowry•

I’m an arsenal fan but we not on the same level as the kings cmon. We just one an fa cup

0
The-Truer-Facts•

Maybe a version of the current Spurs?

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0mantou0•

Ya also finished 8th lol

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SpecialPressure9983:tor-4: [TOR] Kyle Lowry•

Kings would love to be the 8th best team in the league as their worst finish in years

1
0mantou0•

You are right, you are more like the pacers, a consistent fringe playoff team but fell out this season. except they get a good coach for it and you are stuck with arteta lol

1
PatrickMahomies•

Messi going to PSG, is more comparable to LeBron going to LA. Messi is being viewed as a washed king but many think he has left in the tank to continue to be the best in the world. His arc is very Bron like now

-3
calmdwnnchill•

Who thinks he is washed? He is still clearly the best player.

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PatrickMahomies•

Forums, media members, Twitter banter. Not saying the majority of people do, but the talk is out there.

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[deleted]•

[removed]

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moneybooy:bw-phi: Sixers Bandwagon•

He’s the best but others are close. De Bruyne, Lewandowski, Haaland, …

-2
calmdwnnchill•

Haaland isnt even close to that level or consistency yet. While the others are world class they are still not Messi's level even in his down years. Messi with a better team will probably perform better than the last 3 years.

1
Itchy-Face791:nba-1: NBA•

Im pretty sure no one unironically thinks Messi is washed . The man is literally the favourite to win the Ballandor this season

0