Toronto Raptors forward Patrick Patterson might be the biggest film buff in the NBA. So, naturally, we asked him for his favourite sports movie of all time. His answer didn’t disappoint.
The first time I watched He Got Game, I remember thinking, “Man, this is what it’s like?” I was in junior high. And then I got to that level and just kept thinking, “Wow, that movie was spot on.”
You’re a recruit, you’re sought out by agents, people trying to give you money, college coaches pull out all the stops to get you to attend their university, the national recognition you suddenly have to deal with. And the college visits. [What happens in the movie] is really what happens—you’ve got someone on the basketball team showing you around. You go to a dorm and the next thing you know there are girls everywhere throwing themselves at you.
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You’re asking yourself the same questions [Ray Allen’s character asked himself in the movie]: “Do I want to go to college or straight to the NBA?” And then, like in the movie, you’ve got your closest friends, who have been there since the beginning and really care about you, and then suddenly you’ve got these fake friends who mooch and leech off of you. It’s crazy.
As an athlete, you relate to what it was like for you on the recruiting circuit. As a moviegoer, just watching Denzel Washington and Ray Allen—it’s one of my favourite films ever, not just sports movies. And that name: Jesus Shuttlesworth. When do you ever hear a name like that?
This story initially appeared in the August 2016 issue of Sportsnet magazine.