LeBron James won’t sugarcoat his disdain for the NCAA, and he’s aiming directly for the false, dead heart of amateurism in a new documentary slated to debut this fall. James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Entertainment are producing Student Athlete, a documentary that focuses on the toll not getting paid takes on college athletes.
The documentary will debut October 2 on HBO, and its one of two documentary projects announced on Monday that James is involved with. Student Athlete will explore the massive profits the NCAA makes on the backs of student athletes who are not paid for their role in the process while the organization also prevents them from making money in other ways.
“This is an incredibly important story about the institutional denial of basic human rights for these student athletes,” Maverick Carter, said in a release. “When Steve Stoute brought us this idea, it was a perfect fit for the kind of stories we want to tell at SpringHill. We’re excited to work with one of the best human rights storytellers in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to help people see and feel how this issue impacts the lives of those living it.”
Another project announced on Monday is a YouTube documentary series called Best Shot. The eight-part documentary series will run on the NBA’s official YouTube page and follows former NBA player Jay Williams as he joins a New Jersey boys high school basketball team’s coaching staff and their run to a state title.
The announcements mean a lot of basketball content in the coming months, and what should be a blistering take on the NCAA’s crumbling narrative about the morality of not paying its athletes.
