Basketball is one of those curious sports, which is insanely popular in the United States of America but that tends to be considered slightly more niche by a British audience.

Documentaries are always a great way to learn about a subject you didn’t know much about before watching, as well as to go deep into a sport that you thought you knew but always wanted to learn a bit more.

Whether you’re one of the select group of people that think of it as their main sport to watch whenever it’s on or you don’t know much about it at all, you will love the documentaries that are on this list.

Hoop Dreams

• Year: 1994
• Format: Documentary film
• UK age rating: 12
• Running time: Approximately 2 hours 52 minutes. The UK Blu-ray runs for 171 minutes.
• Watch in the UK: Available to buy as a digital download from the Apple TV Store. No subscription-streaming, free-streaming or rental option.
• Accessibility: The Apple TV download has closed captions.
• Physical release: A Region B Blu-ray is available from Zavvi.

Look up pretty much any list of documentaries and you won’t have to scroll very far before you encounter Hoop Dreams. Made in 1994 by Steve James, it follows two inner-city basketball players who are looking to overcome the obstacles of growing up in the Hood in order to make it in the National Basketball Association.

This is a film that says as much about race, class and education as it does about the sport, whilst the fact that it’s still relevant more than three decades later should be an indictment on the American political system, to say nothing of the NBA and sports in general.

Growing up in the lower-income parts of Chicago, the stories of William Gates and Arthur Agee are told over 170 minutes, but there is no fat there that James could have looked to trim to make it any shorter. This is not a documentary that pulls its punches, which is why one heart-breaking scene includes seeing Agee’s father buying crack on the same playground that Agee is shooting hoops.

You shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that this is a dark and miserable tale, however; the moment that Gates gets an ACT score high enough to send him to Marquette University is truly fabulous.

Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals

• Year: 2010
• Format: Documentary film
• Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes
• Watch in the UK: No licensed UK subscription, rental or digital-purchase option. A full-length third-party upload is available free on YouTube, although it is not an official HBO upload and could be removed.
• Physical release: Region 1 US-import DVDs are sold through Amazon UK and eBay. A Region 1 or multi-region player is required.

Nowadays, it seems silly to think of the NBA as something that needed a catalyst for its popularity to grow, but the truth is that it wouldn’t be the behemoth that it is today if not for the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Such is the extent that the pair helped to catapult basketball into the national conversation that you will rarely hear the name of one mentioned without the other following soon after.

In Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals, HBO looks to document the story of how the pair had such an impact on the sport during the 1980s, battling for championships year after year.

From the single greatest sports documentary ever made, Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals. The way the show the similarities between the two despite being from very different backgrounds and playing different positions (from a primitive / conventional view of basketball) pic.twitter.com/KCc4NAvzmq

— Nolan (@BonerPatriot) March 30, 2024

As well as focussing on the rivalry between them on the court, the film also looks to explore how they became such good friends off it. The moment that Johnson explains how he had to tell Bird that he’d contracted HIV during his womanising days is genuinely touching, whilst the action on the court will make you appreciate just how skilful the two of them were.

Given the fact that the two of them began their rivalry during the NCAA Basketball Championship Game in 1979 and lasted throughout their time in the NBA, it isn’t surprising that this is a film with a fascinating story to tell.

The Last Dance

• Year: 2020
• Format: Documentary series
• UK age rating: 15
• Episodes: 10 episodes across one season
• Running time: Episodes run for 49–52 minutes. The complete series lasts approximately 8 hours 28 minutes.
• Watch in the UK: Available with a Netflix subscription.
• Accessibility: English audio description and English subtitles are available.

Even people who have never watched a basketball game in their lives will have heard of The Last Dance, such is the manner in which the story of Michael Jordan and the dynasty of the Chicago Bulls became headline news. From the moment that the director, Jason Hehir, confirmed that it was going to be released, basketball fans up and down the land were desperate for it to drop.

That it was released during the pandemic, when sports in general ground to a halt, made it even more popular with people keen to experience whatever form of entertainment they could in their homes.

One of the things that makes The Last Dance so special, though, is the fact that it got unmatched access to both Michael Jordan himself and the Chicago Bulls. Stories that basketball lovers thought they knew were suddenly being told from the inside, revealing that they were actually even crazier than you might have imagined.

It is a ten-part docu-series rather than a one-off film, but each and every episode will have you gripped and longing for more. Those that remember the glory days of the Bulls will love it, whilst those that don’t will want to go back and watch all that they can.

Through the Fire

• Year: 2005
• Format: Documentary film
• Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes
• Watch in the UK: No licensed UK streaming, rental or digital-purchase option.
• Accessibility: The Director’s Cut DVD includes French and Spanish subtitles.
• Physical release: Region 1 US-import DVDs are available through Amazon UK and eBay. A Region 1 or multi-region player and an NTSC-compatible television are required.

During the 1990s and 2000s, one of the most common basketball-themed discussions that you were likely to hear involved the boys who turned into men by going from high school straight into the league.

In Through the Fire, directors Alistair Christopher and Jonathan Hock look to tackle that tale head-on by following the senior year of Sebastian Telfair, who was spoken of as a genuinely high school phenomenon with a basketball. The inside look at Telfair’s life explores his thought process as he was deciding whether to go to college or head straight to the big league.

Telfair was known on the basketball courts of his hometown of Brooklyn from the age of nine, so his determination to get his high school team, the Lincoln Railsplitters, to the PSAL championship title for the third successive season was understandable. Although he wanted to gain a higher education for himself, he also had a drive to get his family out of the projects in a way that would only really be possible if he turned pro.

The film follows a young man not only having to deal with a death, but also the expectations of the entire neighbourhood as he looks to become the next great point guard from New York.

The Fab Five

• Year: 2011
• Format: Documentary film
• Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes
• Watch in the UK: No official UK streaming, rental or digital-purchase option, but you can find it on Youtube.
• Physical release: US-import DVD and Blu-ray editions are available through Amazon UK. The DVD is Region 1, so a compatible player is required.

Mention the term ‘The Fab’ anything and the majority of people will assume that the next word is going to be ‘Four’, in relation to the nickname that was given to The Beatles. Basketball fans know all about the Fab Five, thanks in no small part to the ESPN documentary that was released back in 2011.

It follows five players for the Michigan Wolverines, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, seeing 2.7 million tune in to watch it when it first came out, which was the highest ever rating for an ESPN documentary at the time.

The five-man starting lineup was the first freshmen starting five who made it to the NCAA National Championship Game, introducing a swag to the world that has now become commonplace. Sporting black socks with baggy shorts and bald heads, it is no exaggeration to say that they brought in a style that is still seen from players in the modern era.

Although this is predominantly a film about basketball, which is why it made it onto our list, anyone who loved the 1990s or would consider themselves to be a fan of hip-hop will also enjoy immersing themselves in the two hours of this one.

Basketball: A Love Story

• Year: 2018
• Format: Documentary series
• Episodes: Originally presented in 10 parts comprising 62 interconnected short films
• Running time: Approximately 20 hours in total. The individual films vary in length from approximately five minutes to more than 30 minutes.
• Watch in the UK: No current UK streaming, rental or digital-purchase option. The series is available through ESPN and Disney+ in the United States.

If you want to really go into the weeds of learning about basketball, you are going to be hard-pushed to find a better documentary series to watch than Basketball: A Love Story. Another one of the long list of incredible sports films made by ESPN, this one is set over ten episodes and lasts for 20 hours, meaning that there isn’t going to be much that you won’t learn about the game.

Directed by Dan Klores, it includes the likes of interviews with players, coaches and commissioners, from both the NBA and the WNBA. Starting from the college experience, it makes its way through to retirement.

There are definitely some that are critical of the fact that the series doesn’t look at the more negative side of the sport, meaning that we don’t get an in-depth look at the Malice at the Palace, for example. But when the only two major names in basketball that you don’t get to speak to are Gregg Popovich and Michael Jordan, it is hardly outrageous to suggest that you’ve made an outstanding film.

It looks to tell the story of how the legends of the sport poured their hearts and souls into the game, including how the two superstars of the 2000s Lakers nearly tore the team apart.