The pantheon of great basketball movies is relatively broad, but Uncle Drew stands out from films like Space Jam or Hoosiers for the sheer number of basketball icons who actually get in on the action. With such an all-star cast of athletes, it makes sense to know that some of them got competitive on the court, and it turns out that WNBA icon Lisa Leslie was the standout competitor while filming. I talked about this with Get Out's Lil Rel Howery and Big Mouth star Nick Kroll during the recent press day in Los Angeles, and Howery told me:
Lisa Leslie got hot. She hit like six threes straight and the crowd was losing it. Yeah, she was on fire and they were losing it, she was dancing. It's a weird thing when you see these retired [players] -- more than Nate and more than Kyrie and more than Aaron, who are still currently actively playing. Lisa hasn't played since she retired, and it was just like once she got on the court it was like, 'Damn, you back!'
Though she's the only member of the WNBA to take on a starring role in Uncle Drew, it seems that Lisa Leslie certainly held her own on the court. Standing shoulder to shoulder with her male co-stars, she apparently got very competitive while filming, and the crowd loved it. Taking full advantage of her knack for shooting, the player-turned-commentator drained six straight three-pointers and proved that she still has it despite not playing professionally since 2009.
Of course, Lisa Leslie wasn't the only one who showed his or her dominance on the court. Uncle Drew star Kyrie Irving also went head-to-head against Nick Kroll at one point, and despite letting Kroll score a layup, he then proved why he's one of the current greats of the sport. Kroll explained:
Nick Kroll: We played. We got in the game a little bit. I hit a layup. Kyrie tried to block it. He missed it, and then I came back and played him on defense. I was like, 'Oh right right right right right right.'Lil Rel Howery: He destroyed. It looked like he was tap dancing.Nick Kroll: It's kind of you to say that.
If you want to see more of what Lil Rel Howery and Nick Kroll had to say about working on Uncle Drew with these basketball legends, then check out a clip from our interview, below!
Uncle Drew is now in theaters. Check out our full review of the love letter to basketball, and then head over to our movie premiere guide to see what else is coming to theaters this year!
