It’s not exactly fair to say that Sandler brought “respect” to the Netflix movie model. Sandler’s Netflix comedies The Ridiculous 6, The Do-Over, The Week Of, Sandy Wexler, Murder Mystery and Hubie Halloween make his much derided 2011 comedy Jack and Jill look like The Godfather. To be fair, Sandler will occasionally scale things back and do a more personal project, including his newest release. Sandler stars as the basketball scout Stanley Sugarman in the new sports drama Hustle.
In the film, Sugarman has worked up the skills to become a coach, and is promised a head position by the veteran Philadelphia 76ers owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall). When Rex dies suddenly, the team is passed to his spiteful son Vince (Ben Foster). Vince has no love for Sugarman, and ultimately deposes him. But Sugarman finds a new passion project: the rookie Spanish player Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez). Sugarman notices Bo’s skills during a trip to Spain and decides to promote him in the NBA. Their journey together teaches both men to be a little more humble.
Hustle is more than the usual showcase for Sandler and his friends. It features cameos from some of the NBA’s most beloved players. Among them is Dirk Nowitzki, who continues to establish himself as an iconic media figure following his retirement. If you’ve ever caught the fun tie-in videos that the basketball star recorded for the Dallas Mavericks’ social media handle, you know that the 7-foot German player has a sense of humor. He’s even lent his voice to sitcom The Cleveland Show and given Conan O’Brien the “Dallas citizenship test” on Conan’s TBS show.
Nowitzki’s cameo in Hustle is actually one of the funnier moments in what’s an unusually serious venture for Sandler. Sugarman tries to convince Bo that he wants to sponsor him, but the skeptical Spanish star has no reason to believe this mysterious American man. To convince him that he’s legit, Sugarman calls up his old pal Dirk for a video chat.
Dončić hasn’t yet gained the legendary pop culture status of Nowitzki, but give him a little time.
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Of course, Nowitzki has a little fun with Sugarman. He jokes that he’s “never seen this man before in my life” before ultimately revealing the truth. His words of support for Sugarman help persuade Bo to start looking at American professional sports. Is there a better way to get into the NBA than to share a moment with the iconic Dallas player?
Nowitzki isn’t the only Dallas player who pops up in Hustle. During a montage toward the end of the film, various players record video messages voicing their support for Bo. Hustle is less about the actual games as it is about the selection process; Bo is trying to land a shot on any team that can use him. He gets a nice message from Luka Dončić, who's been the talk of Dallas fans since he signed to the Mavs in 2018.
Dončić has picked up the torch from Dirk in many ways. Dončić hasn’t yet gained the pop culture status of Nowitzki, but give him a little time. It's still early in his career, and we have the feeling that Hustle is the first of many fun roles that he'll have in the next few years.
Dallas is also referenced in Hustle beyond the cameos. Even though we all love Sandler, we're not surprised the Brooklyn-born comedian had to get a dig in at the Mavs. When asked whether or not he believes that the massive Serbian player Boban Marjanović meets the age requirements for the draft, Sugarman jokes that “Dallas thinks he is.”
Hustle is streaming on Netflix now and playing in select theaters. If you're still hungry for Dallas Mavericks content, you can also check out the documentary Nowitzki: The Perfect Shot, for which Dirk himself hosted a screening at the Dallas International Film Festival in 2015.
