LeBron James, Peyton Manning and the Obamas are teaming up for Netflix basketball series

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, NFL great Peyton Manning, and the former President and First Lady of the United States, Barack and Michelle Obama, are using their storytelling platforms to become a dream team of sorts.

The Wall Street Journal reported that their respective production companies — SpringHill, Omaha and Higher Ground — along with the NBA are in talks to create a new Netflix documentary series along the same lines as "Quarterback," the breakout series that launched over the summer in advance of the 2023 NFL season. The premise of the show would be to follow the lives of select players to understand how they've become some of the few people on earth to play in the NBA.

Netflix continues to double down on sports documentaries and films, something that had become a calling card of sorts over the past decade. Although "Drive to Survive" has received the most attention for its role in popularizing Formula 1 racing in the United States, Netflix already has a robust library of sports-themed shows, including multiple seasons of "Last Chance U." 

James and Manning, both men have made inroads as media storytellers in different lanes. Peyton, along with his brother and former New York Giants quarterback Eli, entertains NFL fans on select "Monday Night Football" nights with their "Manningcast" on ESPN2. The Hall of Fame quarterback also produces a number of other shows for ESPN and ESPN+, the streaming add-on for cable subscribers. James has a wide array of media projects, from sports shows "The Shop" and "Uninterrupted" to film franchise revivals for "House Party" and "Space Jam."

The Obamas have had a production deal with Netflix since 2018, having released "American Factory" and "Becoming" (the latter based on Michelle Obama's memoir). They ended their partnership with Spotify in 2022, which ended up sparking off a trend at the audio company of scuttled deals with prominent Black talents including Meghan Markle (and her husband Prince Harry) and former ESPN personality Jemele Hill.