LeBron James continues to make news beyond the sports page.
The Cavs star created a social media storm in recent days when he posted a picture on Instagram with Mark Wahlberg, leading some to speculate that he is ready to fill the roster for his anticipated reboot of Space Jam.
Now, the SpringHill Entertainment group he created with Maverick Carter — a friend since his days at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron — has inked a development deal with a traditional TV network.
The idea for the yet-to-be-named show about a sports medicine doctor has been picked up by NBC and is the entertainment company’s first scripted broadcast network sale.
The show is being created with Warner Bros., which is also part of the effort to bring the basketball-playing Looney Tunes characters of Space Jam back to the big screen — with James replacing Michael Jordan.
James’ spokespeople declined to comment on the NBC deal.
The show specs show it would be an hour long and follow the work of “a brilliant doctor, specializing in treating the world’s greatest sports stars, [who] undergoes a health crisis that forces him to rethink his approach to medicine with the help of a gifted sports psychologist.”
A consultant on the show will be Dr. James Andrews, a well-known orthopedic surgeon who has helped numerous high-profile athletes and was profiled by ESPN.
The idea is familiar as James recently portrayed a high-profile athlete who befriended a talented surgeon (Bill Hader) whose patient list was a who’s who in sports in last year’s Amy Schumer romantic comedy Trainwreck.
James is already executive producer on the Starz! television series Survivor’s Remorse and SpringHill produces the new show Cleveland Hustles on CNBC that follows the effort of some Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs looking to make it big in the world of business.
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.