When reports began circulating over the weekend that a Kobe Bryant biopic was in the works, it came with some surprise and many questions. However, as it turns out, it’s not a about Bryant’s career or life, but instead a very specific, and interesting, aspect of it.
Deadline, who initially reported the news, added the context and details as to what the movie would be about.
We’ve confirmed that Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen‘s spec screenplay With the 8th Pick, about the behind-the-scenes 1996 NBA drafting
of Kobe Bryant, has landed at Warner Bros. There is no director attached as of yet.
The project is told from the point of view of John Nash, the general manager of the New Jersey Nets, and incoming Nets coach John Calipari, who really wanted Bryant. However, the New Jersey was a broke organization, and Bryant was an L.A. Lakers fan.
They also said the film is being described as “Social Network meets Air meets Moneyball with a thriller bent,“ which feels like a whole lot of word salad. Realistically, though, Air was a good example of a movie built around a subject without needing to ever see the subject.
There are some other familiar names for both projects with Kobe and sports in general, according to Deadline.
King Richard producers Tim and Trevor White of Star Thrower Entertainment are set to produce with Ryan Stowell, who is the head film & TV at Tom Brady & Michael Strahan’s Religion of Sports, as well as the company’s co-founder Gotham Chopra. Chopra helmed the 2015 documentary Kobe Bryant’s Muse.
Realistically, at least in my opinion, it is far too early to be doing a Kobe biopic. To do it properly and accurately would also require to go into subject matter that has been forgotten or buried from early in his career in Colorado. Skipping that part of his life and story would be unjust.
Because of how complicated that would make things in doing a general biopic, and because this is actually an interesting sort of spin-off of his story, this is a much more viable project that should be a fun look back in history.
If nothing else, it will provide fans another opportunity to laugh once again at the Nets for passing on Kobe.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
