While shooting hoops the other day, my brother and I got to talking about the basketball movies that shaped our love for the game and always get us hyped to play.

We ended up building a solid lineup:

Above the Rim: Starring Kyle Lee Watson and Tupac, this is an absolute classic we’ve rewatched dozens of times. The energy holds up every single time.
The part where Tommy Sheppard aka Shep tells Kyle Lee Watson to spread his fingers, is also which does stay in our minds untill this day.

White Men Can't Jump: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and Rosie Perez capture the outdoor court hustle perfectly. From the quest for playground cash to the guy rocking grail Jordans and Main Source’s "Fakin' the Funk" on the soundtrack, it’s legendary.

Heaven Is a Playground: It leans away from the standard hip-hop vibe, but it’s a huge personal favorite that drove us to get better. My bro originally screen-recorded it so we could watch it back in the day, but we just realized the full movie is actually on YouTube!

Also more then a game ( not the LeBron James version ) was also a great one to watch....

And ofcourse any Michael Jordan movie, but Air Time specifically got us hyped

Honorable Mentions:

Blue Chips

Hoop Dreams

Sunset Park

Soul in the Hole

He Got Game

All of these have incredible soundtracks, but the Soul in the Hole OST is on a whole different level.