Baron Davis hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2011-12 season with the New York Knicks, but his life story — or something close to it — could soon be coming to your television.
The former All-Star point guard is part of a production team that’s sold a pilot for a half-hour, single-camera comedy to Fox loosely based on his life. The as-yet-untitled series focuses on a kid from South Central Los Angeles who wins a scholarship to attend a prestigious school in the suburbs, and then has to find a balance between the world he’s entering and the one he’s accustomed to.
Davis grew up in South Central and received a basketball scholarship to attend the Crossroads private school in Santa Monica. Eventually, he played college ball at UCLA and was a first-round pick by the Charlotte Hornets in 1999. Davis played in the NBA for 13 seasons. No word on whether basketball will be a part of the main character’s story.
The project will be written by Courtney Lilly, who’s worked on a variety of shows including Arrested Development, Everybody Hates Chris, My Boys (which had a sports theme) and The Cleveland Show. He will be an executive producer for the series, along with Davis and The Walcott Company, whose team includes actor Jake Johnson of Fox’s New Girl.
It’s not known whether or not Davis will appear on the show, but he does have some previous acting experience playing himself on sitcoms such as Hot in Cleveland and The Mindy Project and movies like That’s My Boy.
Davis also has numerous producing credits (11 listed on IMDB) on several feature films and documentaries. That experience surely helped in getting this project moving, along with the appeal of Davis’ story, which bears some resemblance to previous hits such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the aforementioned Everybody Hates Chris.
With the development deal, Davis joins fellow NBA stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in shepherding programs to television.
Last year, Wade sold a parenting comedy to Fox titled Three the Hard Way based on his autobiography, A Father First. Obviously, that hasn’t yet made it to air. James’ comedy series, Survivor’s Remorse, had a six-episode run on Starz this fall. In October, the network picked the show up for a second season of 10 episodes. The Cavaliers’ star has also developed a show with ESPN based on star athletes’ childhoods titled Becoming. That premieres on Disney XD this weekend (Oct. 26).
Could Davis’ show have a better chance of success as a single-camera comedy? That’s the popular trend with most TV sitcoms these days. Very few employ the multi-camera, studio audience setup anymore. The Big Bang Theory is one that comes to mind. But Fox’s Mulaney is produced in that format, and has been a ratings disappointment this fall. (Hopefully, Davis’ show has better writing.)
[Deadline]
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About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.