Basketball County: In the Water (2020) Plot Summary

Prince George’s County, Maryland (known locally and in the film as “PG County”) has a long track record of producing successful basketball players, which they chalk up to something “in the water.” The film traces basketball’s prominence in the nation’s capital back to Edwin Bancroft Henderson, dubbed “the father of black basketball,” who thought that black youth would benefit from athletic skills. After racial unrest following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., middle-class black families left Washington for suburban Prince George’s County, which boasted hundreds of basketball courts at its parks. After the crack epidemic of the 1980s, youth basketball moved indoors to the county’s recreation centers, which served as safe places for youth to play basketball and develop friendships.

The film also chronicles the career of Morgan Wootten, longtime coach of basketball powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School, the effects of Len Bias’ death on the Prince George’s community, the role of Amateur Athletic Union teams in garnering player prestige, the influence of go-go music on players, and the role of AAU coach Curtis Malone in the lives of players before his arrest on federal drug charges in 2014. Durant’s philanthropic ventures in the county are also chronicled. The film is dedicated to the memory of Bias, Wootten, and Durant’s close friends Cliff Dixon, who died in an Atlanta shooting in 2019, and Jamar “Silent” Board, a DC playground basketball star who died suspiciously in December 2012.

Notable interviewees include Durant, Oladipo, Michael Beasley, Jerai and Jerami Grant, Morgan Wootten, Marissa Coleman, James Brown, Jeff Green, Walt Williams, Steve Francis, Brenda Frese, Adrian Dantley, Jarrett Jack, Kris Jenkins, Nate Britt, John Thompson, Michael Sweetney, Quinn Cook, Markelle Fultz, Lamman Rucker, DerMarr Johnson, and Nolan Smith.