A notable part of the recent expansion of documentaries and docuseries content has been the amount of leagues heavily involved with series of their own. This isn’t entirely new, of course, as the NFL Films/HBO partnership Hard Knocks has been around for two-plus decades now. But recent years have seen more and more of this, including the NHL’s Quest For The Stanley Cup, NASCAR’s Race for the Championship, an upcoming PGA Tour docuseries, and many more projects. One of the latest is an upcoming eight-part series from the NBA’s developmental G League, which comes as part of a wide partnership with insurance company The General. Here’s a trailer they released Tuesday for “The Break,” presented by The General:
And here’s more information on this series from a release:
“We’re pleased to welcome The General as a partner of the NBA G League and Ignite,” said George Wilson, Head of Partnerships at the NBA G League. “We’re especially proud to bring attention to our talented players and share the unique stories of our league through this new docuseries and to watch them grow into future draft picks and NBA stars.”
As part of the collaboration, The General and the G League are launching a docuseries titled “The Break presented by The General,” which will showcase stories and personalities from across the G League with a behind-the-scenes look at players’ path to the NBA. The eight-episode series will be directed by Taylor Sharp of Blue Cup Productions and will bring attention to a variety of stories across the league, including the projected first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft Scoot Henderson, two-time NBA Champion Norris Cole and 2021-22 Kia NBA G League Rookie of the Year Mac McClung.
The premier episode of “The Break presented by The General,” is set to debut on Dec. 5, and will feature a behind-the-scenes look and in-depth breakdown of the nationally televised exhibition between projected first round picks Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. All episodes will appear live on the G League’s YouTube channel, the G League app and G League Ignite’s website.
There’s certainly some potential there, and it’s smart to kick that off with a focus on that much-discussed October duel between Wembanyama (who plays in France with Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92) and Henderson (who plays for the G League Ignite, the league’s college-alternative program that pays players and focuses on exhibition games against G League teams, foreign teams, and NBA academies). Here’s a look at the numbers those players put up in that October clash:
The top two prospects of the 2023 NBA Draft certainly looked the part tonight. 🏀🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/CpJ1w9wTsb
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 5, 2022
We’ll see how The Break turns out, and how it’s received. But it’s definitely logical for the G League to get into this kind of content to try and find ways to promote their players, including draft prospects like Henderson, undrafted players like McClung now finding G League success, and players like Cole who have already found some NBA success. And with this series being free to watch on YouTube and the G League’s websites, there’s a low barrier of entry for any basketball fans looking to check this out.
[PR Newswire; image from NBA G League on YouTube]
