Don Cheadle

A baller from way back, the can’t-be-pigeonholed actor sheds his superhero status to play the villain in Space Jam 2: A New Legacy.

- By Andreas Laszlo Konrath

Word on the street is you can play hoops—did you grow up playing?

We played in the driveway, but I never played organized ball. It wasn’t until I graduated from CalArts and got the job on Fame that I started playing with Jesse Borrego. He was a huge basketball freak and the one who reinstituted it back into my life. My love for it never died until my knees took care of that.

Game over?

It happened not too long after I played with 44. We had a nice, spirited game, and the next day it was hard to get off the couch. It’s different now. I miss it. Greatly.

Did you get to ball with LeBron?

We never played officially. He was on the IR at the time and trying to work back into it. He was also practicing at night with the team. We tried to make sure we didn’t risk him having an even greater injury, other than the acting he had to do in Space Jam. So we’d just play horse during takes.

If you could, what professional sport would you play?