If Rihanna played basketball: point guard, rated 81

Rihanna as a basketball player: scouting report

Rihanna plays point guard, and the reason starts in Barbados. She was a teenager from Bridgetown when she auditioned for Jay-Z at Def Jam and came away with a record deal, which tells you everything about her poise with the ball in her hands. Her basketball IQ is the best part of her card and her playmaking sits right behind it, so she runs an offense the way she has run a career: she sees the next move before the room does and gets there first.

What separates her from a pure passer is the other end. Her defense grades out nearly as high as her playmaking, and her athleticism is solid, so she can pick up the opposing point guard full court and stay in front. The jumper is reliable rather than flashy, much like a catalog built on hooks that land every time. When she headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023, she performed on platforms suspended high above the field, and that kind of composure in a huge moment is exactly what you want from the player holding the ball as the shot clock winds down.

Rebounding is the honest weakness. She is not going to crash the glass against bigger players, so pair her with a center who cleans up the boards and lets her push in transition. If your guard room is already full, she slides to shooting guard with only a small dip, and she can hold up at small forward in a pinch. Off the court she built Fenty Beauty into a global brand, and a drafter gets that same business sense in how she manages a game. Take her early as the steady hand who organizes everyone else.

Plays like A poised floor general who sets the tempo and defends her man

Put Rihanna in your lineup

8 rolls, a starting five and a bench, 82 games. Can you go 82-0? Free, no account.