Zion Williamson Could Star in “He Got Game” Sequel

Spike Lee brought up Zion Williamson as a possible leading man in a sequel to his classic 1998 sports drama about a highly recruited hoops star.

If you’ve been following the news lately, then you know Zion Williamson has a lot in common with fictional high school basketball star Jesus Shuttlesworth.

Like Shuttlesworth, who was played by NBA star Ray Allen, Zion Williamson was one of the country’s most sought after recruits and has a Biblical name.

“He Got Game”  shows some of the dark side of recruitment, the challenges of coming from a single-parent home and the hard work it takes to get anywhere as an athlete.

These are all things to which Zion Williamson can relate.

Zion’s recruitment to Duke is  clouded by controversy, he was mostly raised by his mother Sharonda and he has already had to overcome an injury early in his career.

This is why Spike Lee has targeted Zion Williamson to play the lead in a sequel to “He Got Game,” which he revealed in a recent interview on The Encore with Sage Steele.

The Zion Williamson talk begins just before the 38-minute mark:

Lee says that he and Allen have long wanted to do a sequel to “He Got Game” and were trying to get a meeting with Zion Williamson to discuss it.

Zion has shown that he has chops breaking down film, but it would be interesting to see if the 19-year-old rookie could hold his own in front of a camera.

Obviously, COVID-19 put a kink in Spike Lee’s plans, but he seems determined to put out another basketball movie and it was clear that he and Allen had discussed Zion Williamson as a real possibility.

Zion Williamson’s recent legal battle has put college recruitment under the spotlight once again, so the timing is perfect and Zion might be able to bring some pathos to the role given that he has experienced it first hand.

We’re all for it and hope Spike Lee gets that meeting as soon as things are finally back to normal.