Rumors are it’s only about the drafting of Kobe https://deadline.com/2025/08/kobe-bryant-with-the-8th-pick-1236495833/ 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. Not to mention, Bryant’s sneaker deal with Adidas would be worth more with the Lakers than had he signed with the Nets. Bryant was being courted to become Calipari’s first NBA draft pick, a move that could have changed the course of the NBA forever. It’s being described as Social Network meets Air meets Moneyball with a thriller bent.
His basketball card just sold for 13 million too. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46061949/holy-grail-jordan-bryant-sports-card-sells-record-129m
There will be a 15-minute sequence of Vlade Divac chain smoking and chugging beers in Serbia, completely unaware that he's been traded to Charlotte.
Now that I’d like to see, I love Vlade. He did a great job in that Drazen Petrovic documentary. Shame he has a bad rep because of his tenure with the Kings front office now and being a foreigner with an attitude back in the day rubbed people the wrong way it seemed.
I mean Divac got flack for the same attitude that they praise American athletes for and actually want from their players. Sure he flopped more than most, but he also was a trash talker, said what was on his mind and didn’t care like Jokic about who you were. Americans have a hard time accepting foreigners coming in with that attitude because they feel he should be humble. Jealousy runs deep, saw it with Lin and now still the league has a hard time accepting Euro players as faces of the league.
See him dying early actually changed his entire narrative. I can respect the basketball player, but still don't think he was anything great as a human. DD