There have been plenty of basketball movies throughout history, some of them great, some of them not so much. However, “White Men Can’t Jump” remains a classic to this day, holding its place among the elite pieces when it comes to hoops and Hollywood.
Starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes, this story about streetball, hustling, and unusual friendship makes for an engaging and fun watch, whether you are a basketball fan or not. Even though Woody or Wesley weren’t really hoopers in their spare time, they did enough training to look decent and present themselves as elite street hustlers.
Naturally, spending a lot of time on set and the court during the shooting of the iconic 1992 flick, Harrelson and Snipes engaged in some friendly battles and bets. However, Woody got the best of Wesley on one particular day, as he recently told the story in an interview on “The Rich Eisen Show” when asked if he really lowered the rim to win a big bet.
“That’s partially true, okay. The rim was already at nine and a half feet; the problem was, even at nine and a half, I couldn’t stuff it, and then the lady who was the boom, who was doing the boom operation, you know, she says to me: Why don’t you stretch? And Wes had gone to his trailer, right? And by the way, we had been betting small sums, and I kept not being able to stuff it, and so he went to his trailer, and she says stretch, and I started stretching, and then, I picked up the ball, stuffed it first time, and I’m like, oh my God,” Woody started the story.
“He comes back, and he’s still kind of smug in the, in the certain knowledge that I have no chance to stuff it, and so we start, we bet a little bit, and I miss, and miss, and then I’m like, you know what, I know I can do this, I’ll bet you a thousand dollars, and he goes, oh yeah, and shakes my hand, and then I went up, boom, stuffed it, and to my dying days, I will remember the look on his face, like he just couldn’t believe it, and it was very satisfying,” he concluded.
Just like the movie, but the other way around
Standing at 5’9’’ and not being the most athletic individual, throwing down a dunk for Woody was not really the most realistic feat. Lowering the rim definitely helped, but even then, it wasn’t a guarantee. Until he took the great advice from the boom operator, stretched a bit and got his body ready, Harrelson was in no position to slam it down.
What is really interesting is that in the movie, one of the most iconic scenes is the bet between Sidney Deane (Snipes’ character) and Billy Hoyle (Harrelson’s character) after they win a large amount of money in a tournament. They each put their shares up for grabs, as Sidney gave Billy three tries to stuff it down. He didn’t manage, as Dean came away with all the cash.
However, in real life, it was Hoyle or rather Harrelson who came away glorious in the end, while the other couldn’t believe it.
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Hoops movies today
It seems that basketball movies were much more popular and frequent in the 1990s and 2000s, as, aside from “White Men Can’t Jump”, there were pieces that are still iconic to this day, such as Space Jam, He Got Game, Like Mike, Coach Carter, Glory Road, and Love & Basketball.
While we have seen some modern movies, like Hustle, go really well, it has mostly been sequels, such as LeBron James’s Space Jam and the new version of “White Men Can’t Jump,” featuring Jack Harlow and Sinqua Walls. While they are a solid watch for any basketball fan, it seems they just don’t hit the same as the classics.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Nov 10, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.