It's hard to compare whether the parity is similar because they play much fewer games. In football, you only need to win 3 games to be the champions. That in itself allows weaker teams to win from a streak. In basketball, you need to win 4 games just to get out of the first round. It's quite hard for individual players to overperform across multiple series in the NBA so it's more apparent that a team like the Wizards or the Hornets have no chance of winning.
It's hard to compare whether the parity is similar because they play much fewer games. In football, you only need to win 3 games to be the champions. That in itself allows weaker teams to win from a streak. In basketball, you need to win 4 games just to get out of the first round. It's quite hard for individual players to overperform across multiple series in the NBA so it's more apparent that a team like the Wizards or the Hornets have no chance of winning.