The Best Sports Documentary on Netflix

Since brash new series Basketball or Nothing landed on Netflix on Friday, August 2nd, it has ticked all the right binge-watching boxes: eye-catching location, nail-biting moments on the court and compulsively watchable characters (particularly coach Raul Mendoza). But there’s one key thing that this show—which follows a high school basketball team in a dusty pocket of Arizona’s Navajo Nation—has that other sports documentaries lack: a genuine sense of hope.

The series follows the Wildcats of Chinle, a community where the state championship is more than just a sporting achievement. It’s a way for these players to secure college scholarships, jobs and better lives for their families. In a town where alcohol and drug abuse are common, this is an important outlet.

It’s also an opportunity to showcase a unique style of basketball—a run-and-gun, pass-cut-shoot game known as “rez ball” that makes up for the teams’ relative lack of size with speed and sharp shooting. The players are a far cry from the peaked-in-high-school variety: Cooper Burbank is a quiet, Kevin Durant-like point guard who crosses up bigger dudes; Josiah Tsosie is a 5’4, humble-as-hell sharpshooter who wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Though Basketball or Nothing doesn’t touch on politics, it is clear that the reservation is a place where hope can be hard to come by. For the players on this team, however, basketball offers a chance for a better life. They’re all looking forward to the day when they can leave the reservations and go their own ways.