Stephen Curry Turned Down Cameo in 'Space Jam 2'

"I know LeBron and Ryan Coogler are going to be doing amazing things. It's going to be awesome," the Golden State Warrior star told a New York Times reporter.

Space Jam 2 may have LeBron James, but it continues to have trouble recruiting other NBA All-Stars.

Stephen Curry turned down an offer to have a cameo in the film, The New York Times reported Friday, following The Hollywood Reporter's April story noting that, in addition to the Golden State Warriors star, James Harden and Kevin Durant were also unlikely to appear in the sequel to the 1996 Michael Jordan alien-basketball pic.

In an excerpt of an interview between Curry and Times NBA reporter Sopan Deb, which Deb tweeted Friday, Curry explained he couldn't appear in the Warner Bros. film due to scheduling issues. "I know LeBron and [producer] Ryan Coogler are going to be doing amazing things. It's going to be awesome," Curry said. "Part of it was in terms of things that I had going on. It was just the timing, to be honest. Not being able to commit. And I know Ryan really well. We had a lot of conversations about it."

Curry noted that Coogler, an Oakland, California, native, was a "die-hard" Warriors fan. "He's at every playoff game," he said. Added Curry, "Obviously, that's hard to turn down. The guy does amazing work."

Space Jam 2, which is set for a 2021 release date, has had difficulties pulling in talent in part due to sneaker contracts, as THR's Tatiana Siegel wrote in April. NIke is the primary brand of the Space Jam franchise, whose first film was based on a Nike commercial; Curry, meanwhile, is under contract with Under Armour until 2024 (Harden is a spokesperson for Adidas, while Nike-affiliated Durant is pursuing his own entertainment projects).

Additionally, the script is said to spend less time with NBA legends than the original film, which saw the NBA's Danny Ainge, Steve Kerr, Alonzo Mourning, Horace Grant, A.C. Green, Scottie Pippen, Charles Oakley, Luc Longley, Cedric Ceballos, Derek Harper, Vlade Divac, Brian Shaw, Jeff Malone, Bill Wennington, Anthony Miller and Sharone Wright all have cameos. Space Jam 2 will spend more time with James' family, and a teenage boy named Dom is said to be the second lead.

Despite his pass on Space Jam 2, Curry is working on his own entertainment projects via his Unanimous Media shingle, which has a multiyear development deal with Sony.