The celebrity cameos for Space Jam 2 have yet to be revealed, but a major basketball cameo of Adam Sandler could be important to connect to his next movie Hustle. Adam Sandler began his career in the mecca of comedy at Saturday Night Live in the early '90s, then moved into successful comedy movies under his production company Happy Madison. Recently, the comedian has broken into drama roles with critical acclaim like Uncut Gems, but a cameo in the new Space Jam movie may be a clever comedy side-step to elevate Sandler's upcoming Netflix drama.
Space Jam: A New Legacy follows Lebron James in the steps of Michael Jordan’s Space Jam role in 1996, using his basketball talent to help the Looney Tunes out of their next predicament. This time around, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Lola Bunny, and the rest of the gang will team up with Lebron and his fictional son to escape a video game world by beating the virtual space’s unbeatable basketball team, the Goon Squad, which includes avatars of real-life basketball players. Michael Jordan is even slated for an unspecified cameo role in the new movie, possibly in the climactic final match against the Goon Squad.
Space Jam included several celebrity cameos on Michael Jordan’s fictional team, so the list of actors and actresses included in Space Jam 2 is highly anticipated. One perfect cameo to reflect Space Jam would be Adam Sandler in Bill Murray’s role from the original film, filling in a spot in the basketball game as Lebron’s human teammate. Not only does Adam Sandler’s notable interest in basketball make him a great contender for the celebrity role, but the cameo could connect within the theorized “Sandlerverse” to his upcoming sports film Hustle also co-starring Lebron James.
Sandler is an avid sports fan, especially basketball, and enjoys including his athletic ability as plotlines in his films like Grown Ups, Happy Gilmore, and The Longest Yard. His new Netflix drama Hustle will star Sandler as a basketball recruiter who brings a player from overseas (Lebron James) to play for the NBA. Considering the two obviously have enough chemistry for Sandler to cast Lebron opposite himself, a cameo in Space Jam 2 would be a great way to set up their dynamic in Hustle. Besides being a clever way to show how well Sandler and Lebron could play basketball side-by-side and display a friendship, Space Jam 2 could entice more people to watch them together again when Hustle premieres.
Since Hustle will be produced under Happy Madison Productions, Sandler will have creative control to include connections to his prior movies as he has done before. Though Adam Sandler and Lebron James would be playing fictional versions of themselves in Space Jam 2, they could still be referenced in Hustle for basketball history. It’s possible the two could reference the name of one of their Hustle characters preemptively in Space Jam 2, which wouldn’t make sense at the time, but would be belatedly understood in Hustle.
