Sports documentaries have become big business for streaming services, particularly Netflix, as the streaming giant has found a winning formula with its follow-doc structure. After the success of Drive to Survive, which took American fandom in Formula 1 to entirely new levels, they’ve applied that formula to the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, and others.
Their next sports documentary will hit the streamer on February 18, when “Court of Gold” releases, following the men’s basketball teams from the USA, Serbia, Canada, and France through the 2024 Olympics in Paris. On Thursday, Netflix released the first trailer for the doc, which features interviews with a number of stars and sets up the general tension of last year’s Olympic men’s basketball tournament: Can someone finally dethrone the United States? Two teams, Serbia and France, came perilously close to beating the Americans, but Kevin Durant’s question from the trailer became prescient.
For all the talk about how other countries had more chemistry and a structure they all knew how to play in, the talent pool still matters, and as KD says, “is that chemistry gonna help you when you gotta guard Steph?” Curry’s heroics in both the semis against Serbia and the final against France made that quote from KD an easy inclusion in the trailer. While the Americans came out on top once again, the behind the scenes look at all of these teams should be fascinating, particularly the locker room footage from games.