Ball Don't Lie

PITCH
NBA superstar, Demarcus McGee, doesn’t need much help from his teammates to win. That’s probably a good thing, since the mercurial, selfish star has seemingly alienated himself from nearly everyone in the Los Angeles Lakers organization. Demarcus’s Lakers are in the NBA Finals and they’re down by one. Demarcus is also one assist shy of a record-breaking fifth straight finals triple-double. Demarcus has a chance near the end of the game to take the lead with a wide-open layup. Instead, he passes it to a teammate who’s being defended to get his tenth assist and secure his fifth straight triple-double. The ball is passed back to an open Demarcus who quickly passes it back to another defended player. “Absolutely preposterous and ignominiously indefensible,” says Stephen A. Smith. The crowd boos and the Lakers lose.

Demarcus blames everyone else in the post-game interviews and gets in a fight with a teammate in the locker room. After a required meeting with the team’s renowned sports psychologist, Demarcus wakes up in the 1950s NBA as the only black NBA player where segregation is the norm and there’s no such thing as a three pointer. Demarcus has to learn what it means to be a good teammate for the last-placed Lakers to break a curse and get himself sent back to the present before the NBA finals game seven. And why the hell are the Lakers in Minneapolis?

BALL DON"T LIE is Remember the Titans meets Ted Lasso. This screenplay is a genre hybrid mix of hip-hop, comedy and basketball lore coming together to create a story about teamwork, trust and friendship all while addressing race and hate.

COMPS
Ted Lasso, Winning Time, Glory Road, 42, Remember the Titans, Semi-Pro