5 NBA players who could’ve starred in Space Jam 2 before LeBron James

5. Kevin Durant

In 2012, just as he was really establishing himself as one of the best players in the league, Kevin Durant starred in a movie called Thunderstruck.

It was released the same summer that a 23-year-old Durant led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA Finals (they lost to LeBron and the Miami Heat), capping a season in which KD led the NBA in scoring for the third straight year.

Thunderstruck wasn’t what you’d call good, but it was perfectly fine as a harmless sports comedy/inspirational piece.

It was about a high school kid in Oklahoma who desperately wanted to make the varsity basketball team, but he simply wasn’t good enough. After going to a Thunder game and meeting Durant, supernatural forces conspire and KD’s talent is transferred over to the kid. Hilarity ensues, lessons are learned, and eventually Durant gets his talent back and everyone lives happily ever after.

It’s the kind of movie you might catch on the Hallmark Channel this weekend.

After Durant left OKC in real life a few years later to play for the Golden State Warriors and become arguably the best player in the world, there was a window when he could’ve been pegged as the leading man in a Space Jam sequel.

He was a certified champion and Finals MVP with some acting experience under his belt and a public profile as high as it had ever been in his career.

Now that he’s recovering from a devastating Achilles tendon injury suffered at the height of his powers in the 2019 NBA Finals, the next Hollywood move for Durant might be retelling his own inspiring comeback story.

Of course, that one would be set in Brooklyn, not in outer space.