ESPN And Disney Are Officially Producing "The Bubble" Documentary And It Has The Potential To Be Legendary If Done Right

Orlando Sentinel. Getty Images.

Remember the Bubble? What a crazy time to be alive. I've talked about this in prior blogs, but to this day my brain is still completely cooked when it comes to the concept of time ever since everything first went down back in 2020, and that's especially true when talking about NBA basketball.

The season shutting down in mid-March was a true "where were you when" moment and given all the uncertainty in the world at the time nobody really had any idea what the hell was going to happen to the rest of the 2020 NBA season. Then Keith Smith (a former longtime Disney employee) famously had the idea to bring the NBA to Walt Disney World and boom, the rest was history

Once the league returned from their break and things got underway, one of the common takes at the time was how awesome it was going to be once the eventual Bubble documentary was made. Given how unique of a situation it was and the fact that we'll probably never see something like that again, I couldn't wait for that time to come

Well, fast forward to 2024, and here we are

As I've stated before, I'm a big time slut for pretty much any type of basketball documentary. They all deliver for the most part (I also cannot wait for the new Allen Iverson one) and now that we live in a world where content is king, we're starting to get more and more and I couldn't be happier. 

The big question with this of course is how honest are they going to be? You can't tell me there weren't players sneaking in girls, smoking weed/partying/sneaking out of the park etc. As interested as I am in the basketball aspect of the Bubble, it's everything else that a documentary like this HAS to include. Don't even bother making this thing if you aren't going to give us the goods.

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We all saw the basketball stuff on TV, we know what the games were like and what the playoffs were like. Don't tell me I'm getting behind-the-scenes footage of the Bubble and instead of the good shit it's just the 2020 Lakers in the locker room during their run or some bullshit like that

Part of me is a little nervous that ESPN/Disney is making his documentary because I feel like they'll keep the juicy stuff out, but I'm mostly holding out hope that since some of the 30 for 30s were awesome this too will live up to the hype.

When it comes to the caliber of basketball in the Bubble, a lot of people claim it sucked and I never really understood that take. The quality of the games was actually entertaining as hell. Sure it wasn't quite the same as a normal season since teams didn't have to deal with home/road crowds in the playoffs, but from a quality of basketball standpoint? It was awesome (as long as you actually like the sport of basketball). 

So my hope is that the behind-the-scenes documentary of the Bubble is every bit as good and then some. ESPN/Disney has a once in a lifetime opportunity with this thing, and they cannot fumble it. Throw a TV-MA or whatever on it and show us everything. We as fans deserve it,