Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the Spike Lee film He Got Game, which is arguably a sports classic starring Denzel Washington and former NBA player Ray Allen in a revelatory performance. It would be fitting enough that tributes would arise for the film. Luckily for us, Bleacher Report took it upon themselves to draft a trailer for an imaginary sequel to the film titled She Got Game. The short was directed by Va$htie and stars WNBA player Jewell Lloyd.

Lloyd portrays Faith Mothershed, a talented high school basketball player entangled in the throes of national buzz surrounding her career on the court, as well as tending to her ill mother. The viral short also stars Lin Tucci, Yolanda Ross, Catherine A. Callahan with cameos from Candace Parker and Desus and Mero.

With the cancellation of Pitch on Fox, the amount of sports dramas centered around women has gone from sparse to pretty much nonexistent. A potential project like She Got Game would not only open the door for more female-fronted sports dramas for both film and television but also cast a bigger magnifying glass on the WNBA.

With the exception of Love & Basketball, we have yet to see a Hollywood motion picture set in the world of basketball from a woman’s perspective. Adding on a female writer/director would be the pièce de résistance at removing a project with so potential such as this from the male gaze that pervades pretty much all of mainstream cinema, especially sports films. Given that Va$htie directed the trailer, it would only be fitting for her to direct the movie. In case she’s not available, we’re putting our money on Gina Prince-Bythewood, Angela Robinson, Tina Mabry or Millicent Shelton.

Lastly, it seems as if skeptics within the larger Hollywood machine have not comprehended the buying power of the African-American community, despite the success of Black Panther. When there’s a film that reps our culture and our people, black people carry the torch and ensure said movies sustain longevity for decades to come. Aside from dictating what’s on trend, black women hold a great deal of consumer power, and a movie led by an African-American actress (or basketball player) would fuel the notion that women do indeed drive the box office.

Watch the trailer for She Got Game below.

Yolanda Ross

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