The force is strong in the post: The NBA equivalent for every Star Wars film
Episode III — Revenge of the Sith is the feud between Shaq and Kobe
“You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you.”
Revenge of the Sith completes the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into the villain Darth Vader and puts an end to the friendship and working relationship between the young Jedi and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Haunted by ghosts, and chasing immortality for himself and his loved ones, Anakin is tempted to turn his back on the Jedi to seek individual accolades and new powers he has come to believe he deserves. He thinks the Jedi have been holding him back and wants to see what he can truly become if he fully embraces his own potential.
He turns to the Dark Side of the force, helping Chancellor Palpatine seize control of the Galactic Senate giving power to the Empire and bringing an end to the long and successful dynasty of the Jedi.
Sound familiar?
The Los Angeles Lakers won three straight NBA titles from 1999-00 to 2001-02. Two years later they found themselves back in the Finals after adding veteran ring-chasers Karl Malone and Gary Payton to their core which already featured superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
The Lakers seemed to be set up to continue their dominance for as long as the two all-timers could stay together. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, that would not be much longer.
Kobe Bryant had played in the larger-than-life shadow of Shaq (Shaq-dow?) since he entered the league fresh out of Lower Merion High School in 1996. The two formed a nearly unstoppable duo with O’Neal playing at the absolute peak of his world-dominating powers and Kobe growing into a near-perfect clone of Michael Jordan.
But things started to fall apart.
The two began to take shots at each other in the media, O’Neal claiming “Just ask Karl and Gary why they came here. One person. Not two. One. Period.” Bryant accused O’Neal of being “fat and out of shape.”
Their relationship was beyond repair by the time the favored Los Angeles team fell to the Pistons in the 2004 Finals. The following off-season would see the Lakers decline to offer a new contract to head coach Phil Jackson, part ways with O’Neal sending him to Miami in a trade, and resign Bryant for seven years and $136 million.
In the battle between former teammates, O’Neal would strike first, winning the 2005-06 title with the Heat while taking a bit of a backseat role to emerging superstar Dwyane Wade. Bryant would eventually strike back twice as hard, winning back-to-back titles in 2008-09 and 2009-10 as the centerpiece of the Lakers.
The pair would eventually (somewhat) make up. O’Neal even called Bryant “the best Laker ever” in 2016. But we can only imagine how the landscape of the league would have been different if the pair, once brothers, could have continued to get along.