The Waiting Game (2024) Film Review
Right as The Waiting Game enters its final sprint, we come upon a very important question that’s asked to a very important player. CJ McCollum is the President of the National Basketball Players Association, the union in charge of taking care of basketball players like every union should. McCollum rubs his hands showing a collective emotion that I would like to think is the general feeling everyone gets with Michael Husain’s illuminating but heartbreaking documentary: Someone should have done something before.
Husain’s The Waiting Game is a powerful statement of a documentary in which the truth about the very profitable NBA comes out. What many people don’t know is that decades ago, when the NBA was still conceptually young, there was another league. The ABA (American Basketball Association) went through its prime from 1967 to 1976, up until it turned into the NBA and even introduced the 3-point shot.
The problem is that, in the merge, things didn’t turn out the best for all players in the ABA. There were some that “survived” during the transition but others were left at the mercy of an organization that completely forgot about its past and only cared about the revenue in the future. Husain takes a deep dive into what followed when the organization known as Dropping Dimes Foundation started speaking out loud and managed to get some attention when a very important player from the ABA passed away in conditions that he didn’t exactly deserve.
Scott Tarter, a relatively unknown leader in the struggle, is the main focus of the documentary as he does his best to make an impact. His interests are anything but making money, but as a lawyer himself, he does make a good point by making the viewer understand the objectivity of the situation. In his words, “lawyers did what they had to do to care for their clients’ best interests.” Yeah, it’s poignant but it’s also the absolute truth.
A great piece of history, shown in a revealing documentary that inevitably navigates through the tropes of true crime. At first, getting to know about the ABA is fascinating. But then, the truth about the NBA, an organization acclaimed worldwide, comes out and we witness the mechanics of ambition and greed.
In the conversation with McCollum, he addresses that perhaps the problem with the NBA is that “players are young” and they’re not connected with history the way they should. But personally, I think players are not to blame. We’re talking about an organization that draws in millions of dollars, and yes, some of those, fall in the hands of players, but 1) what the ABA requires isn’t much, and 2) there’s enough information out there to understand where the problem lies.
Fortunately, McCollum accomplishes something. He becomes a key player in the waiting game where the NBA will finally recognize what they should have decades ago. The Waiting Game flows into a bittersweet ending that’s sweeter than I had imagined. Regardless, there’s still a long battle to fight, and yes, we have to wait a bit more. Husain does a great job at applying irony to the outcome when he confirms that in the process of signing checks, more players have passed due to their precarious life conditions. And even so, all the survivors must do is keep waiting.
