Opinion

San Antonio Spur Kawhi Leonard produces, stars in movie

Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard, a proven superstar on the basketball court, now dives into the movie producing game. Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard, a proven superstar on the basketball court, now dives into the movie producing game. Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Image 1 of / 51 Caption Close San Antonio Spur Kawhi Leonard produces, stars in movie 1 / 51 Back to Gallery

San Antonio's stellar Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard has donned a new hat: movie producer.

Leonard not only is co-executive producer of the documentary "The First to Do It," about basketball pioneer Earl Lloyd, but is featured in the movie, too.

Lloyd was the first black player in the NBA.

Leonard joins more seasoned movie producer and fellow Spur Tony Parker, who follows up his executive producer credit on last year's feature film "The Birth of a Nation," about Nat Turner, with the same title on the Lloyd documentary.

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The movie is scheduled for release during opening weekend of the 2017-18 NBA season.

Two-time NBA All-Star Leonard, who hosted a private screening of "The First to Do It" during All-Star weekend in New Orleans last month, also is interviewed in the film.

"The guy was like 22 years old when he was the first African-American basketball player," Leonard, 25, told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, a sports and pop culture site owned and operated by ESPN.

"He was a guy who paved the way for us on and off the court. He was loved by fans and other races while he's playing, then walks off the court and gets treated a different way just because he didn't have the same skin color. I learned from his experiences and take them into my everyday life."

"The First to Do It" chronicles the life and basketball career of Lloyd -- beginning with his youth in segregated Virginia to his historic first step onto an NBA court to his witnessing of an African-American becoming President of the United States.

On October 31, 1950, Lloyd, who played for the Washington Capitols, broke the NBA's color barrier when he played in a game against the Rochester Royals.

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Nicknamed "The Big Cat," Lloyd was one of three black players to enter the NBA at that time. The others were Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton of the New York Knicks and Chuck Cooper of the Boston Celtics, who also played in the NBA during the 1950-51 season. Lloyd, however, was the first in a game because of scheduling.

Lloyd played for six seasons with Syracuse and two with the Detroit Pistons before his retirement in 1961.

He died at the age of 86 on February 26, 2015.

The movie is definitely a passion project for Leonard.

"About two or three years ago I wanted to check out who was the first African-American basketball player," Leonard says in The Undefeated article.

"I just searched it on the internet and I came up with Earl Lloyd. I didn't want to read too much on him. I just wanted to figure out the answer. Two years later, I hear from people that are going to do this documentary."

According to The Undefeated, executive producer Arka Sengupta said Leonard was first contacted through his agent. He showed immediate interest, and Sengupta met with the Spurs' 2014 NBA Finals MVP to talk about how he could be involved.

"It just makes you love your job even more just the way society is today," Leonard told Undefeated.

jjakle@express-news.net