We’ve confirmed that Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen‘s spec screenplay With the 8th Pick, about the behind-the-scenes 1996 NBA drafting of Kobe Bryant, has landed at Warner Bros. There is no director attached as of yet.
The project is told from the point of view of John Nash, the general manager of the New Jersey Nets, and incoming Nets coach John Calipari, who really wanted Bryant. However, the New Jersey was a broke organization, and Bryant was an L.A. Lakers fan. Not to mention, Bryant’s sneaker deal with Adidas would be worth more with the Lakers than had he signed with the Nets.
Bryant was being courted to become Calipari’s first NBA draft pick, a move that could have changed the course of the NBA forever. It’s being described as Social Network meets Air meets Moneyball with a thriller bent.
King Richard producers Tim and Trevor White of Star Thrower Entertainment are set to produce with Ryan Stowell, who is the head film & TV at Tom Brady & Michael Strahan’s Religion of Sports, as well as the company’s co-founder Gotham Chopra. Chopra helmed the 2015 documentary Kobe Bryant’s Muse.
Verve reps Sohn and Johannsen. Sohn is repped by Lit Entertainment Group. He’s also writing the Madden project which is set up at Netflix with Religion of Sports. Johannsen is also repped by Gotham.
Warner Bros. didn’t return request for comment.