Backboard!
Kyrie Irving's "Uncle Drew" series of commercials is one of the best sports advertising campaigns in recent memory, and perhaps one of the greatest of all-time. With the 24-year-old Cavaliers star dressing up as an elderly man who loves to talk about how things were "back in my day," Irving has captivated the NBA world since 2012 with his creative commercials for Pepsi. Uncle Drew is simply iconic.
Take a look at the original that started it all, in which Irving—as he does in every Drew commercial—gets his make-up on and shocks some "young bloods" with his ability to still get buckets. Oh, you think you can check the old man? Hold onto your ankles, young blood.
It has been viewed nearly 47 million times.
So far, we've seen four chapters of the commercial series, with Irving bringing in NBA and WNBA stars like Nate Robinson, Baron Davis, Kevin Love, Ray Allen, and Maya Moore. What could take this series to the next level? A movie.
Yes, a movie. Don't rule it out; it could be in the works. Irving implied the series has potential to make the big screen, according to ESPN.
“There is something big that we’re planning, which I’m really excited about,” Irving said during Thursday’s Cavaliers shootaround, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Hopefully the details can be released in the forthcoming future, but I’m excited about it. There will be a last chapter that will happen, but I don’t think it will be on YouTube.”
So, if not YouTube, then where? That's what McMenamin asked. Could it be a movie?
"If you got that from that, yeah," Irving said. "For sure. For sure."
It seems like Irving is being intentionally mysterious, but the plans also don't appear to be fully hatched.
Irving says "Uncle Drew still lives inside of me."
Kyrie said the final chapter probably won't happen in the summer of 2017—he's an NBA champion now so, you know, he's busy—but perhaps summer 2018 is a possibility.
This is amazing news. What could be more inspirational than a movie about getting buckets? And even if it's terrible, it will be funny to look back on, like Kevin Durant's Thunderstruck.
If this hits movie theaters, I'll be the first one in line.
