I should probably start this post with a bit of a disclaimer: the validity of the original story has been called into question since the news first broke on Friday. And yet, it’s such an intriguing possibility that it is clearly still worth talking about. If you are at least 20 years old, you’ll remember that the NBA was at the height of its popularity in the mid-’90s and basketball stars were seemingly permanent fixtures in the pop culture landscape. NBA players regularly starred in movies and appeared on rap albums and music videos, and this all culminated in Space Jam, the live-action / animated hybrid movie starring various Looney Tunes characters and Michael Jordan (among others), which made $230 million worldwide. Almost 20 years later, we have word that a sequel may be in the works. But is there any truth to it or is this just another ridiculous rumour?

The news was first announced via Deadline, who claim that the sons of NBC executive Dick Ebersol are developing the sequel to Space Jam as a starring vehicle for LeBron James. Charlie Ebersol (Race to the Scene) is on board as producer and his brother Willie wrote the script. A few years back, LeBron had supposedly tweeted that he loved the original film and wanted to do a sequel, which may have served as the inspiration for the new project. There’s just one problem: LeBron says that he doesn’t know anything about Space Jam 2. Here’s a quote from the Miami Sun Herald:

“It’s news to me. I haven’t heard anything about it. Like I said, I’ve always loved Space Jam. It was one of my favorite movies growing up. If I have the opportunity, it will be great. But that’s news to me. Obviously, I don’t want to be on there with this thing on my nose. We’ll see what happens.”

The “thing on his nose” refers to the fact that he just suffered a broken nose a few days ago and is currently wearing a cast. Either way, it sounds like he is not involved, although it’s possible that the project is still in development. Certainly the NBA could haved used something like this a few years back when their ratings were in the crapper, but they have since clawed their way back somewhat. Do you want to see Space Jam 2 become a reality?