Game of Thrones’ highly anticipated season seven premiered just a couple weeks ago. I’m a huge fan of the show, and I also enjoy watching Bleacher Report’s NBA satire, Game of Zones, which compares many stars to characters of the show.
This idea inspired me: what characters are Phoenix Suns Legends most similar to? This will surely lead to some disagreement, but I think it’s an interesting topic to explore.
1. Steve Nash – Tyrion Lannister
Steve Nash is arguably the greatest player in Suns history. It’s also harder to find a more popular player than him. However, nobody would have guessed the career he would one day achieve. As a high school prospect, colleges hardly recruited him. Only Santa Clara University, which no one would consider a major basketball school, offered him a scholarship. Even after a successful college career (including an upset of powerhouse Arizona in the NCAA tournament), the Phoenix Suns drafted Nash outside the lottery, to the disappointment of fans, who didn’t want him.
It would take a while for Nash to get the recognition he deserved in the NBA. He was stuck behind talented backups in Phoenix before getting traded to Dallas. He began to shine as a sidekick to Dirk Nowitzki with the Mavericks, but when his contract expired, owner Mark Cuban didn’t want to shell out the money necessary to keep him. So in the summer of 2004 Nash returned to the Suns and became the two-time MVP we know today.
Similar to Steve Nash, Tyrion has always been underestimated by his father and everyone else because of his physical appearance. Despite this, he has succeeded at every turn. He saved King’s Landing while Hand of the King and brilliantly maneuvered through the politics of the city. Now he is providing Daenerys excellent advise as her Hand. This is another aspect of Tyrion’s that relates to Nash: he does not seek the crown or limelight himself, but is always assisting others in achieving it. And just as Nash had a strong court vision and basketball IQ, Tyrion always seems to know what to do.