Whenever the subject of basketball movies comes up there is always a lot of debate about what is the best and what isn’t. There is a wide range of answers and it usually depends on what generation you are from. The olds love Hoosiers, the slightly less olds love White Men Can’t Jump/He Got Game, and the youngins love Space Jam. Well lucky for everyone I am finally here to settle this debate. Just a disclaimer, I have not seen Love & Basketball. I know people love that movie but it came out when I was like 3 and I just haven’t seen it since, besides that though I have seen basically every basketball movie.

5. Coach Carter

Coach Carter was the movie I always watched in the minivan on the way to basketball games and it is a very inspirational, true story. I will say: it’s annoying how this movie spawned a million coaches who made you bring your report cards to practice. But aside from that I have nothing but love for it. It’s basically just Samuel L Jackson being Samuel L Jackson but as a basketball coach at a tough inner city school, how could you not like that? The way he whips the team into shape and turns the team around in just a year is awesome and I loved his little family stories that were the reasoning behind the names of his plays. He also had his son on the team who he pushed harder than everyone else and I related to that so much being a coach’s son myself.

By the way, Channing Tatum was in this movie and I always forget that. It is very funny in retrospect. He played a big, skinhead-looking dummy.

4. Glory Road

In my opinion this is the most criminally underrated basketball/sports movie. There wasn’t any buzz about it when it came out and I don’t know a ton of people who have seen it. That doesn’t change the fact that it is one of the best basketball movies ever because it tells a great story. It’s about how Don Haskins fielded the first ever all-black starting lineup at Texas Western and then went on to win the National Championship over perennial powerhouse Kentucky and legendary coach/racist piece of shit Adolph Rupp. What these black players went through during their NCAA Tournament run, in the heat of the Civil Rights Movement, was just so brutal and it makes for a very compelling story. Josh Lucas is great as the young, progressive hardass Bob Haskins and Jon Voight does amazing at portraying that old bag of shit Adolph Rupp. You must watch this movie if you haven’t.

3. He Got Game

This would probably be some people’s best basketball movie and I don’t hate it. It does have the best actual basketball scenes due to Ray Allen being the star. Ray did a pretty good job acting for a college basketball player and him as Jesus Shuttlesworth has to be the most iconic basketball movie character ever. I still see Shuttlesworth jerseys to this day and I always saw them when he played for the Celtics. Denzel is great in this movie like he is in every other movie and we also see the emergence of the beautiful Rosario Dawson. It has a good amount of NBA cameos from guys like Rick Fox and Celtics legend Walter McCarty, and any movie that has Walter in it is good by me. It also shows the corrupt recruiting process and the pressures of being a top-flight basketball prospect. Spike Lee told probably the most realistic fictional basketball story you could tell.

2. Space Jam

I had a hard time not putting this number 1 because I have maybe seen this and Star Wars more than anything because I literally watched the VHS tapes every day as a kid. This is easily the biggest nostalgia movie for me. I remember this being my introduction to Michael Jordan and it fueled my love for basketball growing up. I could not comprehend that the best basketball player ever was also starring in a movie with Bugs Bunny, I thought that was amazing and it is.

Now lately there has been this sort of backlash that Space Jam isn’t good and the people that say that can go fuck themselves. They say it’s corny and not very well done and MJ’s acting is bad and blah blah blah blah. Um earth to Matilda, it’s a god damn movie about Michael Jordan teaming up with the Looney Tunes to play a basketball game against aliens that want to enslave them for amusement. This isn’t The Godfather, it’s a freaking children’s movie. Also I really don’t think MJ’s acting was that bad when you consider that he had to pretend a broomstick was Daffy Duck.

And one last thing I hate that copycat motherfucker Lebron James for making a sequel to what should be an untouchable classic. People are going to say he had the better Space Jam movie because Lebron stans are the worst and it is going to drive me insane.

1. White Men Can’t Jump

When I was growing up playing basketball and first watched this movie I thought it was the coolest shit ever. 2 guys just hustling people for money in basketball games, that was something my young brain couldn’t comprehend. Ever since I saw it I have dreamed of hustling people in pickup games and to this day I still dream about it despite being completely washed up. This is one of my favorite movies ever, and it may be my most rewatchable movie ever. It is so quotable and I always reference it in games and on Twitter. Billy Hoyle had game for days and watching his vicious cycle of financial highs and lows is highly entertaining, especially as a degenerate gambler myself. Sidney Dean is one of the most electric players of all time, I mean no player in history has that kind of showmanship. If you want to sell out your home games you want Sidney Dean on your team. “It’s pretty, it’s so pretty” is one of my favorite lines to drop when I’m watching or playing, and the way he constantly just roasts Billy throughout the movie is hilarious. The chemistry between Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson is perfect because it feels like two friends just constantly busting each other’s balls. Marques Johnson has one of my favorite NBA player cameos and plays a great psycho. Rosie Perez as Billy’s girlfriend Gloria is awesome and is a big reason why this is the best basketball movie ever. She makes it more than just a basketball movie and adds a whole other layer of entertainment with her Jeopardy storyline. Plain and simple you are missing out if you haven’t seen this.

Honorable Mention: Blue Chips

I am really mad at myself for not putting this on here but I don’t think it is better than the 5 movies above and I wasn’t about to do a 10 movie list because that’s when you start getting into movies that are just ok. But I had to mention Blue Chips just because it has the biggest NBA cameos in Shaq/Penny Hardaway, and Nick Nolte plays a perfect shady college basketball coach. It is sort of a caricature of college basketball culture and I like that a lot.

Dishonorable Mention: Hoosiers

I know I am going to get a bunch of people asking why I don’t have Hoosiers on here, and you want to know why? Because it fucking stinks. Hoosiers is so overrated and not even close to the best basketball movie. It is objectively competent by movie standards but it just doesn’t interest me at all. The best part about that movie is Dennis Hopper and that’s about it. A bunch of white guys in Indiana running the picket fence? I’ll pass.

Tonight is the 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards and there are a lot of great actors, actresses, writers, and shows in contention. I have a lot of beef with the Emmys because I disagree with their selections often so I’m not going to tell you who I think will win, I’m going to tell you who deserves to win. Now to clarify I don’t watch every single show that is nominated tonight but I do watch a lot of tv so I’ve seen most of them. Also I’m not going to do every single award, only the ones that interest me. Let’s get to it.

Best Comedy Series : Always Sunny In Philadelphia

I am just going to ignore the actual nominations for this one because it is absolute bullshit that Always Sunny has NEVER been nominated for an Emmy. Not once. Are you fucking kidding me? It is so much more original, and funnier than every comedy out there. It’s a modern, darker Seinfeld. It is the perfect caricature of asshole, white northeastern urbanites. You aren’t supposed to like the characters because they are terrible people but you somehow end up loving them. There are some good comedies nominated tonight and I would pick Atlanta if I had to, but I had to give Always Sunny some love here since the Emmys won’t.

Best Drama Series: Game of Thrones

Huge clarification here that I don’t watch The Americans, Westworld, or The Handmaid’s Tale. I’m guessing one of those actually wins I just haven’t seen them, but Game of Thrones is my pick. Listen, I know GoT has dropped off in pacing and writing since they got past the end of the published books, but it is still the drama I look forward to the most. That’s how I judge best dramas: by how anxious I am to see what happens next. GoT on Sunday Nights is an event for all of Twitter. The timeline is never better than that unless there’s a good NBA game going on. That all factors into my equation which is why GoT is the best.

Best Leading Actor In A Comedy Series: Bill Hader

He probably isn’t going to win and I legitimately love everyone else nominated for this, but Bill Hader deserves to win for Barry. Barry is really good on HBO if you haven’t seen it and Hader displays such a wide range. He goes from deadpan comedy to very serious drama in the change of a scene. He really carries that show along with some good supporting actors and it is becoming one of my favorite comedies.

Best Leading Actress In A Comedy Series: Issa Rae

Issa Rae has the best smile on planet earth. Also she is so good in Insecure on HBO which is now one of my favorite comedies. She also is the writer and creator which earns her points with me. I think the situations she highlights in Insecure are as real and relatable as anything from Seinfeld. You actually end up disliking her character for doing certain things but it’s what makes her performance so good.

Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series: Zazie Beets

I love Atlanta on FX and Zazie Beets, along with the rest of the amazing cast, is a big reason why. While Earn and Paperboi give you a look into an emerging rap star and his manager, Beets’ character “Vee” gives you a look into the woman behind those men. She really captures the role of the girlfriend/baby mama of a struggling music manager. Vee is appreciative of Earn trying to earn a good living for her and her daughter but she isn’t going to put up with Earn’s shit as well. She plays a conflicted character and does a great job at it.

Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series: Brian Tyree Henry

Another Atlanta winner. This almost seems unfair since Henry isn’t really a supporting character, he carries the show just as much as Glover. But he is in the category and his performance is that good so he is my pick. His character “Paperboi” fucking kills me as much as any character on TV right now. The episode where he was trying to get a cut from his erratic barber was one of the funnier episodes of TV in recent memory. His reactions and facial expressions are such a big part of his performance and he is a really talented actor. I love his funny interactions with Darius, Tracy, and others and then his serious one-on-one scenes with Earn is some of my favorite TV out there. He really does deserve this and I hope he gets it.

Best Actor In A Drama Series: Jason Bateman

It’s The Bate Man baby. Jason Bateman is one of the most versatile actors out there starring in classic comedies like Arrested Development while also putting out a banger of a drama in Ozark. Ozark season 1 was good yet a tad slow, but season 2…Season 2 is one of the best seasons of TV I have seen in a few years and Bateman is a large reason why. His role as an asshole, in over his head, cartel money launderer/father is a perfect use of his talents. If you haven’t seen Ozark watch it now and make sure you get to Season 2.

Best Actress In A Drama Series: Elisabeth Moss

I’m going to be honest here, I don’t watch any of the shows these lovely women are in. But I am going to pick Elisabeth moss because she was a badass as Peggy Olson in Mad Men.

Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Millie Bobby Brown

I’m going with 11 because she is a bad ass bitch in Stranger Things and I genuinely think Millie Bobby Brown (fire name by the way) gives the best performance despite being a teenager. The type of character she has to play is so unusual and rare yet she completely nails it. I really hope she takes home the hardware and I’m looking forward to seeing her in that new Godzilla movie that looks incredible.

Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: David Harbour

David Harbour was 11’s counterpart last season and their scenes together are a big reason why I still loved Season 2 of Stranger Things despite others’ complaints. His character “Hopper” has so much charm and wit but also kills the dramatic scenes he has with 11 and Winona Ryder. He is the perfect casting for this role and a big reason why the show is so good.

Category: Entertainment

The Definitive Best Basketball Movie Ranking