Last Updated on September 9, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

He Got Game (1998) is the Denzel Washington basketball movie that you must see. It took me 26 years to have the energy to put on this film — and that’s coming from a huge Ray Allen fan. How it took so long can only be explained by my busyness since 2010. Before then, I didn’t have the resources to put the film on. I also hadn’t looked up the cast yet, which, as it turned out, features many of my favorites in their fields. Nevertheless, it also would have helped if I heard good things about the movie…I hadn’t heard anything at all. The impression I got was that it was a decent movie with a cult-like following from the Spike Lee crowd. And I liked some Spike Lee films but most of them I found difficult to sit through.

After the first time I watched He Got Game, I said to myself that that wasn’t a basketball movie. The main plot is about Ray Allen’s father committing murder and then trying to get Ray to attend a certain college for the sake of getting himself an early release, a deal offered by the prison warden. And since there isn’t any of Ray Allen playing college basketball, I didn’t see it as a basketball movie. But the movie does say many things and touches on many important messages.

He Got Game Cast

Here is the cast of He Got Game:

  • Denzel Washington plays Jake Shuttlesworth (Jesus’s father)
  • Ray Allen plays Jesus Shuttlesworth
  • Rosario Dawson plays Lala Bonilla (Jesus’s girlfriend)
  • Lonette McKee plays Martha Shuttlesworth (Jesus’s mother)
  • Milla Jovovich plays Dakota Burns
  • Zelda Harris plays Mary Shuttlesworth (Jesus’s little sister)
  • Hill Harper plays Coleman Sykes (Booger)
  • Ned Beatty plays Warden Wyatt
  • Jim Brown plays Spivey
  • Director: Spike Lee

This is one of my favorite casts in all of film. Ray Allen is one of my favorite basketball players.
Rosario Dawson is one of my favorite actresses. Denzel Washington is one of my favorite actors. And yes, that is Jim Brown the gridiron player.

Notes:

Ray Allen was 22 years old when he acted in the movie He Got Game. Some of the scenes could have been redone, but in general, his acting was very good for a 22-year-old with no acting experience. Some scenes in particular were very impressive (usually anything involving Uncle Bubba and his father).