ESPN announced today a 20-hour, 10-part documentary “Basketball: A Love Story” from Peabody Award-winning director Dan Klores. The sweeping project, which consists of more than 60 interconnected “short stories,” will be available across multiple ESPN platforms in a variety of viewing experiences. Klores has created a vibrant mosaic of the game, featuring 165 exclusive interviews. The cast encompasses basketball’s most prominent figures, from Bob Cousy, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dr. J, Yao Ming, Stephen Curry and Diana Taurasi, to Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant. Klores’ short stories explore the complex nature of love as it relates to the game and opens the window to insights and perspectives about race, politics, media, art, business, style and entertainment. The episodes will feature different narrators: Chadwick Boseman, Julianne Moore, Chris Cuomo, Ashley Judd, Michael Che, Ansel Elgort, Ahmad Rashad, Robin Quivers, Daveed Diggs, and Fisher Stevens.
The unique format of “Basketball: A Love Story” gives ESPN the chance to offer it to viewers in a variety of ways. Beginning on Tuesday, September 18, all 62 short stories will be available on the ESPN App. The full film will air in a serialized format in primetime on ESPN over five Tuesdays: October 9, from 7-11 p.m., October 16, from 7-11 p.m., October 23, from 7-11 p.m., October 30, from 8 p.m-12 a.m., and November 13, from 8 p.m-12 a.m. (all times ET.) For a more binge-style experience, a special preview of the full film will be shown in two installments on ESPN2 on September 25 (9 p.m. – Episodes 1 through 5) and September 27 (9 p.m. – Episodes 6 through 10).
