Although both our local teams and our national basketball team have made us proud by achieving great success around the world, unfortunately, basketball has never attracted as much attention as football in our country. Many of us were interested in basketball, especially in high school. Some of us continued, some of us quit. However, in the hearts of all of us, both this sport and basketball movies related to this sport have a special place.
There are many basketball-themed movies in Hollywood cinema. Some have documentary-like narratives, while others have cute stories that will instill the spirit of sports. Although it is possible to evaluate all these productions under the name of basketball movies, each of them reveals how important sports are for humanity. Let’s take a closer look at the best basketball movies that you can enjoy watching as if you were watching at least one game.
Basketball movies to watch with excitement:
- Space Jam
- He Got Game
- Love & Basketball
- Glory Road
- The Basketball Diaries
- Finding Forrester
- Coach Carter
- Uncut Gems
- Hoosiers
- Rebound: The Legend of Earl ‘The Goat’ Manigault
Timeless legend: Space Jam
- Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Year: 1996
- Director: Joe Pytka
- Stars: Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Theresa Randle
- IMDb: 6.5
Even if it was remade in 2021 as Space Jam: A New Legacy, the first Space Jam movie made in 1996 has a special place in the hearts of moviegoers. In the movie, which offers the chance to watch the Looney Tunes characters we admire and master basketball players such as Michael Jordan, whom we admire as much as these characters, we watch a basketball game where cartoon characters and real people fight fiercely.
A tough father-son relationship: He Got Game
- Genre: Drama, Sports
- Year: 1998
- Director: Spike Lee
- Stars: Denzel Washington, Milla Jovovich, Ray Allen
- IMDb: 6.9
We watch a father and son story in the film, in which the veteran actor Denzel Washington performed well in his youth. The teenager, who is on trial for a murder charge, is scheduled to enter college to receive a lesser sentence. He has to work hard for the university he wants to enter with a basketball scholarship. The rest of the story is a tenacious success and a sincere family story.
Childhood love and passion for basketball: Love & Basketball
- Genre: Drama, Romance, Sports
- Year: 2000
- Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Stars: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps, Glenndon Chatman
- IMDb: 7.2
In the movie Love & Basketball, the directorial debut of Gina Prince-Bythewood, a story full of love and basketball is told. Our male and female characters, Monica and Quincy, have been together since childhood and there is a sweet love between them. As the ages progress a little and life conditions get difficult, the size of the love between the two changes and grows into love with the passion for basketball.
Racism is harder to beat than rivals: Glory Road
- Genre: Biography, Drama, Sports
- Year: 2006
- Director: James Gartner
- Stars: Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols
- IMDb: 7.2
The true story of a black basketball team’s journey to the top, set in the United States of the 1960s, during one of the harshest times of racism. Don Haskins, the coach of the Texas Western team, assembles a team of black youth struggling to get to college. Although the hard training of this team is enough to fight its rivals, it is not always enough against racism, which is a crime against humanity.
You will watch in tears: The Basketball Diaries
- Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
- Year: 1995
- Director: Scott Kalvert
- Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Marilyn Sokol
- IMDb: 7.3
In The Basketball Diaries, crowned with the successful performance of the young Leonardo Di Caprio, we follow the real life story of poet Jim Carroll. There are many scenes that will bring tears to both young people and adults throughout the movie, which tells the salvation of a young person who was sexually abused at a young age, stuck in drugs and gradually seeing himself to death, with basketball.
Discovering a talented author: Finding Forrester
- Genre: Drama
- Year : 2000
- Director: Gus Van Sant
- Stars: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham
- IMDb: 7.3
Blacks he plays basketball very well, but what about more? Jamal, a young black man who attends a private school in Manhattan, is a very talented basketball player, but he has an even greater talent: writing. Jamal will discover this talent when he is discovered by an older, master writer. In the film, which is based on dreams and lives, we witness how a dream illuminates even a dark road.
Coach is a father to the team: Coach Carter
- Genre: Biography, Drama, Sports
- Year: 2005
- Director: Thomas Carter
- Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Rick Gonzalez, Robert Ri’chard
- IMDb: 7.3
In the movie Coach Carter, which is based on a true story, we follow the story of a basketball team coach who can be more than a coach, but a father figure for the players. In 1999, the Richmond High team were banned from the team for poor grades. However, thanks to their coaches, they never give up and struggle to achieve success in both sports and school.
And look at it from this angle: Uncut Gems
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Year: 2019
- Director: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
- Stars: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel
- IMDb: 7.4
Uncut Gems has a slightly different story than the other basketball movies on our list. Other movies are about basketball players, but Uncut Gems looks at it from the other side and talks about people who bet on basketball games. In the movie; We follow the story of a man who gets into debt to dark types due to heavy bets and has to get involved in much darker business to get out of debt swamp.
The movies that started it all: Hoosiers
- Genre: Drama, Sports
- Year: 1986
- Director: David Anspaugh
- Stars: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper
- IMDb: 7.5
Hoosiers, on our list one of the oldest movies. Its subject is very classic, but when we look at its production date, it may be one of the first basketball-themed films in the cinema world. When we look at it from this point of view, we see that the story of the coach who takes the head of a town basketball team in the movie Hoosiers and dealing with the team’s mischievous players is actually a sign of the beginning of a new era in cinema.
Rebound: The Legend of Earl ‘The Goat’ Manigault
- Genre: Biography, Drama, Sports
- Year: 1996
- Director: Eriq La Salle
- Stars: Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones, Michael Beach
- IMDb: 7.6
Rebound: The Legend of Earl ‘The Goat’ Manigault begins with a reporter asking legendary basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabar who his favorite player is. Jabar’s given name is Earl Manigault, nicknamed The Goat. After this answer, the film focuses on the life of Earl Manigault and shows how a drug-ridden teenager became a basketball legend.
We have listed the best basketball movies that you can watch with excitement, as if watching a pleasant game, and briefly talked about the stories of the movies. This list could have been even longer since we’re only talking about important movies. You can share the basketball movies you want to be on the list in the comments.
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