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Calvin Cambridge

Played by: Bow Wow

An orphan who happens to be skilled in basketball and dreams of getting adopted.

The Ace: Becomes this for the Knights, partially as a result of the shoes. Before discovering the shoes he was quite good at basketball himself.
Big Brother Instinct: Is this towards Murph.
Big Eater: When spending his first night at a hotel, he orders a large amount of food from room service.
Everyone Has Standards: As much as he idolizes Tracy, he knows that Tracy wouldn't make a remarkable father since he isn't big on families, even refusing to talk to his father.
Happily Adopted: Gets adopted by Tracy at the end of the movie.
Insistent Terminology: Calvin is not “short”, rather “height-challenged”.
Nice Guy: He has his faults, but for the most part, he is a nice guy who never lets the fame go to his head and even uses the money he makes from his fame to donate materials to the orphanage rather than for himself. ^note

Murph

Played by: Jonathan Lipnicki

Calvin's best friend.

Happily Adopted: Joins Calvin in being adopted by Tracy.
Parental Abandonment: Of a more overt case, as, from what's said, his mother has died before the movie's events.
Those Two Guys: Along with Reg

Reg Stevens

Played by: Brenda Song

Another one of Calvin's friends.

Happily Adopted: She gets adopted at the end of the movie by a different family.
Those Two Guys: Along with Murph

The resident bully of the group home.

The Bully: He's this towards Calvin, constantly pushes him around and even takes and destroys his Allen Iverson jersey after winning it from him in a bet.
Green-Eyed Monster: He becomes very jealous of Calvin's success that he goes as far to attempt to steal the MJ sneakers from Calvin just to prove to everyone that he is nothing without his sneakers.
Heel–Face Turn: After Calvin convinces him to take his and the other orphaned kids' side and that Bittleman is only using him to win a bet and doesn't really care about him or the kids.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- He's not wrong that potential parents are more likely to adopt younger kids than adolescent ones.
- As much of an asshole he is, he also isn't wrong that the only reason Calvin is so good at playing basketball is because of the sneakers that gave him an electrical boost to up his skills and that Calvin wouldn't play anywhere near as good if he didn't have on the sneakers.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Turns against Bittleman when Calvin tells him that he doesn't care about any of the kids and when the former calls him an 'idiot'.
Reformed Bully: Calvin convinces him that Bittleman doesn’t care about him, and he helps Calvin get to his last game in the end.

Tracy Reynolds

The star player of the Los Angeles Knights and Calvin's Mentor.

The Ace: Was this for the Knights before Calvin joined.
Character Development: Goes from being aloof to being friendly and later fatherly.
Children Raise You: Being Calvin's mentor matures Tracy to the point that he not only repairs his relationship with his estranged father, but by the end of the film he later adopts Calvin.
The Casanova: Hinted at. He is shown bringing a woman up to his hotel room, but never goes any further than that. He also takes time to flirt with the pharmacist who gives him his prescriptions.
Hidden Depths: At one point during the film, it is revealed that Tracy is pretty good at math, as shown when he helps Calvin prepare for a geometry test by using basketball analogies to help Calvin understand how geometry works.
- He’s also shown to value the friends he’s made on the Knights’ very much, telling Calvin that “good friends are hard to come by” when Calvin confides to him about Murph being angry with him.
Papa Wolf: Defends Calvin during a game against the Supersonics and later convinces the Coach to let Calvin play the last game, despite being late.
Took a Level in Kindness: After Calvin gets himself benched after driving Tracy’s car back to the hotel so that Tracy wouldn't get suspended for missing curfew, Tracy starts becoming warmer towards Calvin. This culminates in Tracy adopting Calvin(and Murph) at the end of the film.

Stan Bittleman

The greedy director of the group home.

Abusive Parents: More like abusive caretaker, he act this way towards Ox, berating and insulting him.
Big Bad: Becomes this in the final act
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
Stage Dad: He's obsessed with Calvin's progress as an NBA star because he wants Calvin's money to pay off his gambling debts.
Jerkass Has a Point: Warns Calvin that people may want to adopt him because of his newfound celebrity status rather than out of genuine love. However, he proves to not be any better.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears after Calvin's last game. it is revealed that after the Raptors game, he couldn’t pay the $100k bet he placed on the Raptors, and no one has heard from him since, so his fate is unknown.

Coach Wagner

The Knights head coach.

O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After the Knights lose a close game to the Bulls, he is absolutely FURIOUS when ranting to the team in the locker room.
Papa Wolf: Rightfully deduces that Bittleman is only using Calvin to make money and defies Bittleman's wishes to prevent Calvin from getting adopted.
Pet the Dog: Lets Calvin keep the money for he gave for candy to buy tickets to see a Knights game.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Warns Tracy that if he doesn't fulfill his role as Calvin's on-the-road guardian, that Tracy himself will be suspended.
- He’s also forced to bench Calvin for a game for “joyriding” after he drives Tracy’s car back to the hotel to ensure he didn’t get suspended for violating curfew. He would’ve done so again after Calvin arrives late to the Raptor’s game(after his shoes were stolen) if the Knights didn’t convince him to let Calvin play.

Characters / Like Mike