Before LeBron James became the "King" with four rings and a scoring record that looks impossible to touch, he was just a kid in Akron. Honestly, it’s hard to remember that version of him. We see the billionaire mogul now. But if you sit down and watch the More Than a Game documentary, you’re teleported back to a time when the stakes felt higher because they were personal. It wasn’t about Nike contracts yet. It was about five kids who promised to stay together.
Directed by Kristopher Belman, this film wasn't some polished, corporate PR piece commissioned by a league. It started as a student project. Belman was a student at Loyola Marymount who headed back to Ohio to film a local high school team. He got lucky. He happened to pick the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish right as they were becoming a national phenomenon.
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The "Fab Five" of Akron
Most people think this movie is just a LeBron James origin story. It’s not. If you go into it expecting a solo highlight reel, you're missing the point. The film focuses on the "Fab Five": LeBron, Dru Joyce III, Willie McGee, Sian Cotton, and Romeo Travis. They were a brotherhood.
Dru Joyce III is arguably the emotional heartbeat of the story. He was the tiny point guard who everyone said was too small to play. His father, Dru Joyce II, took over as coach, which added a layer of "dad-pressure" that felt incredibly raw on screen. You see the friction. You see the love. It’s messy in the way real life is always messy.
The narrative arc centers on their journey from middle school to their senior year of high school. They made a pact. They decided to attend a predominantly white Catholic school—St. Vincent-St. Mary—instead of the local powerhouse black high school. This move was controversial in Akron. People called them sellouts. They had to deal with that noise while they were still learning how to drive a car.
The hype machine that almost broke them
By their senior year, the More Than a Game documentary shows a shift in energy. The innocence starts to evaporate. LeBron is on the cover of Sports Illustrated as "The Chosen One." They are playing games in college arenas because their high school gym can't hold the crowds.
There's this one specific moment regarding the Hummer H2. If you followed sports in 2003, you remember the scandal. LeBron’s mom got him a luxury SUV for his 18th birthday, and the OHSAA (Ohio High School Athletic Association) went ballistic. They ruled him ineligible. The film captures that suffocating pressure. Imagine being 17 and having the entire sports world debating your integrity because of a car.
- The Struggle: They weren't just playing basketball; they were defending their right to exist in the spotlight.
- The Loss: The documentary doesn't shy away from their failures, specifically the devastating loss in the state championship during their junior year. It crushed them.
- The Redemption: Their senior year wasn't just about winning; it was about proving the pact they made as kids actually meant something.
Why this film ranks higher than typical sports docs
We’re currently living in an era of "The Last Dance" and endless Netflix sports series. Everything feels high-def and slightly over-produced. The More Than a Game documentary feels different because a lot of the footage is grainy, handheld home movies. It feels like looking through someone's old shoebox of memories.
Music supervisor Harvey Mason Jr. did a hell of a job with the soundtrack, too. Getting Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z, and Drake (back when Drake was still "the Degrassi guy" to some) gave the film a cultural weight that resonated beyond the court. "Stronger" by Mary J. Blige basically became the anthem for the movie's emotional climax.
The coach who held it together
Coach Dru Joyce II deserves a lot more credit than history usually gives him. In the film, you see him balancing the roles of mentor, father, and tactician. He wasn't just coaching basketball; he was managing five distinct personalities that were being pulled in a thousand directions by agents, scouts, and hangers-on. He kept them grounded. He made sure they graduated.
The legacy of the St. Vincent-St. Mary era
What happened after the cameras stopped rolling? We know what LeBron did. But the More Than a Game documentary makes you care about the others. Sian Cotton went on to play football at Ohio State. Willie McGee became a high school athletic director. Dru Joyce III had a massive career playing professionally in Europe and eventually moved into coaching.
They stayed friends. That’s the "more" in the title.
The film serves as a time capsule for the year 2003. It was the last moment of "amateurism" before the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) era changed college sports forever. If these kids played today, they’d be making millions in high school. Back then, they were just trying to win a state trophy without getting suspended for accepting a free jersey from a local shop.
Lessons from the film
Watching this documentary today offers a few reality checks for anyone chasing a dream or managing a team:
- Chemistry beats talent. There were teams with more height than the Fighting Irish, but nobody could match their telepathic chemistry.
- Loyalty is a currency. They had opportunities to leave for "prep schools," but they stayed home. That loyalty built a shield around them.
- Pressure is a privilege. As Billie Jean King famously said, and as LeBron lived, the weight of expectations is only felt by those capable of meeting them.
Practical steps for viewers and creators
If you’re a coach, an athlete, or even a filmmaker, there’s a blueprint here.
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For fans of the doc: Go back and watch the 20th-anniversary interviews. Most of the "Fab Five" still do appearances together. It adds a whole new layer of depth to see these men in their 30s and 40s talking about their teenage selves.
For aspiring documentary filmmakers: Notice how Belman stayed out of the way. He didn't use a heavy-handed narrator. He let the subjects speak. If you're filming a project, focus on the "why" of the relationships, not just the "what" of the events.
Where to watch: You can usually find the More Than a Game documentary on major streaming platforms like Amazon Prime or Apple TV. It’s also frequently available for rent on YouTube.
The film ends not with a trophy, but with a realization. These guys realized that the game was the vehicle, but the brotherhood was the destination. It’s a rare sports movie that actually lives up to its title. It really is more than a game.
Next Steps for Deeper Insight:
- Research the "NIL" rules of today and compare them to the OHSAA rulings shown in the film to see how much the landscape has shifted for young athletes.
- Look up the "I Promise School" in Akron to see how the roots planted during this documentary eventually grew into LeBron James's philanthropic legacy.
- Find the official soundtrack; the collaboration between Interscope Records and the film is a masterclass in how to market a sports story through hip-hop and R&B culture.