In his 2009 non-fiction tome "The Book of Basketball", Bill Simmons discusses NBA superstar Bernard King's performance in this film. Simmons added in a footnote that when he talked to Gabe Kaplan about the film, "Kaplan said they had 60 days of filming and Bernard gave them 58 good ones. He didn't elaborate."
Bench player, Krebs, is played by Jim Spillane, who played basketball at UCLA...
At 14:47 of the second half of the game between Cadwallader and Nevada State, the team lineups are displayed on either side of the scoreboard. The Nevada State roster includes several members of the production crew - Quiroz, Harrick, Chernov, and Thaler.
Sports broadcaster Sonny Hill recommended that professional basketball player Bernard King audition for the part of Leroy "Hustler" Monroe.
The period of principal photography on this picture was a seven week shoot comprising of a one week leg in New York City, USA and a more major six week component shooting schedule filming in Los Angeles, California, USA.