Steph Curry's New Documentary Tells the Story of Basketball's First Jump-Shot Pioneer
In ‘JUMP SHOT,’ NBA stars explore Kenny Sailors’ impact on the sport.
The annals of sports history is structured around the legacy of hard-working pioneers and daring innovators, both celebrated and forgotten. One of the NBA‘s buried trailblazers is Kenny Sailors, the man who brought the jump shot into common parlance; thanks to director Jacob Hamilton and executive producer Steph Curry, however, Sailors is getting his moment in the limelight.
Kennth Sailors was a well-decorated player during the early days of the NBA and BAA (Basketball Association of America), notably garnering a unanimous College Basketball Player of the Year nod in 1943. That same year, Sailors enacted his best-remembered moment, during the NCAA Basketball Championships at Madison Square Garden. Playing for the Wyoming Cowboys, Sailors delivered a “leaping one-hander,” lobbing the ball towards the net with a never-before-seen technique that caught his opponents off-guard. This was the foundation for the jump shot as we know it.
JUMP SHOT explores his legacy and the ensuing development of the jump shot, featuring interviews with Curry, Kevin Durant, Bobby Knight and other NBA stars. The movie is also Sailors’ final appearance on film — he sadly passed on 2016 — following years of living in obscurity within the Alaskan wilderness. As such, the film is as much a love letter to the jump shot technique as it is to Sailors and his impact upon the sport, his community and his family.
Pre-order the film through JUMP SHOT‘s website to stream on April 16, with the film’s limited availability seeing it disappear on April 18. 10% of the film’s proceeds will benefit the Convoy of Hope’s efforts to deliver meals to under-served communities affected by COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the NBA is reportedly planning to premiere an all-star game of H-O-R-S-E.
