‘With the 8th Pick’: Warner Bros. brings Kobe Bryant’s draft story to the big screen

The beginning of Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant’s legendary career is getting the Hollywood treatment. According to Clutchpoints, Warner Bros. has picked up 'With the 8th Pick', a script that dives into the process surrounding the 1996 NBA Draft, when the teenage Bryant nearly became a New Jersey Net.

Written by Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen, the script doesn’t read like a typical biopic. Instead, it zooms in on the frantic two weeks leading up to draft night, told largely through the eyes of Nets general manager John Nash and newly hired coach John Calipari. At the time, the Nets owned the eighth pick and were seriously weighing a bold move: selecting a young guard straight out of high school.

The Nets, already cash-strapped and pressured from several directions, passed on Bryant. He was scooped up at No. 13 by the Charlotte Hornets, who immediately traded him to the Lakers for center Vlade Divac. Divac lasted just two seasons in Charlotte. Bryant? Twenty years in purple and gold, five championships, 18 All-Star appearances, and a resume that now fills the rafters at Crypto.com Arena.

According to insiders familiar with the script, the film mixes front-office politics with the tension of a sports thriller, drawing comparisons to 'Moneyball', and 'Air'. It’s also expected to weave in family elements, particularly the influence of Joe 'Jellybean' Bryant, Kobe’s father and a former NBA player himself.

Production is in the hands of Tim and Trevor White of Star Thrower Entertainment, alongside Ryan Stowell and Gotham Chopra of Religion of Sports. Chopra, who directed the 2015 documentary 'Kobe Bryant’s Muse', has long been connected to the Bryant story. No cast or director has been announced yet.

Bryant’s arc after draft night is well-known: MVP in 2008, Finals MVP twice, 60 points in his farewell game, and even an Oscar win in 2018 for his animated short 'Dear Basketball'. His story ended tragically in 2020 with the helicopter crash that claimed his life, his daughter Gianna’s, and seven others.

Warner Bros. seems intent on going back to where it all almost didn’t happen: a draft room in 1996, when the eighth pick could have changed the landscape of the NBA.