In Season 2, will these high school seniors see their hoop dreams deferred? – The Denver Post

As a genre, sports dramas are wonderfully malleable and serve as a backdrop for all kinds of storytelling that isn’t about athletics. They’re metaphors for what it means to navigate through life. The pressures can be especially stark for young phenoms who are shouldering all kinds of expectations, and “Swagger,” on Apple TV+, looks at what it means to be a kid with the potential to go all the way to the pros. Initially following a group of 14-year-old elite basketball players, the show’s second season catches up with the boys in their senior year of high school, when their hopes for college recruitment are on the line.

Loosely inspired by the childhood of NBA player Kevin Durant, the Durant stand-in is Jace Carson (Isaiah Hill, quietly charismatic), a star player in his final year at a ritzy, predominantly white prep school. Everyone is banking that Jace and his teammates will end the season as national champs under the watchful eye of Coach Ike (O’Shea Jackson Jr., whose acting career kicked off with the biopic “Straight Outta Compton” playing his father, Ice Cube).

Coach Ike had his own hoop dreams dashed early on, only to become a much-needed, steadying presence for these boys in their club basketball days. So it’s fitting that he would guide them through their final year of high school. He sees these kids as human beings, not just dollar signs, which isn’t to say his own daddy issues don’t occasionally cloud his judgment.

But there are so many outside interests at work. Too many of the adults orbiting these boys have a vested interest in their success as players, from the sneaker company rep (Tristan Wilds) who strategically wields his clout because he cares about Jace, but also wants to cement a relationship with him before the kid becomes a hot NBA property, to the school’s elegantly dressed athletic director (Orlando Jones) who looks down his nose at Coach Ike’s lack of pedigree. The tension borne from those intra-community class issues are among the season’s more interesting developments, and Jones is terrific and deeply nuanced as a man who has bought into the idea that respectability politics are the key to advancing his (or any other Black person’s) career.

Meanwhile, the boys are faced with an incident from their past that threatens their collective future. It’s a narrative treated with real sensitivity, of kids who felt they had to protect one of their own because the adults in their lives couldn’t — or wouldn’t. The way this secret eventually comes to light, on TikTok no less — first it’s denial, then one person takes the blame, then his friends all step up, “Spartacus”-style — is full of complexity that underscores just how much these boys are learning, on the spot, what it means to live your truth. And how precarious their dreams may actually be.

Created by Reggie Rock Bythewood, one of the show’s producers is Brian Grazer, whose credits include “Friday Night Lights,” and there are some important similarities between the two, particularly in their rich approach to ensemble storytelling and allowing quieter moments of uncertainty to play out. The dynamic between Jace and his teammates occasionally reminded me of another show, namely the early seasons of “The Chi” and its tender portrait of friendship among boys. “We are brothers,” the Swagger teammates chant before games and it’s not just lip service, there’s real love there.

That loyalty is important, because there’s an unspoken subtext about the private school they’re attending. I’d wager the school recruited these basketball stars because the wealthy want to be able to say: I (or my kid) went to school with that NBA star. I know that NBA star. These white parents want proximity, but it’s conditional — the minute something goes wrong and the boys prove to be more complicated off the court, those same adults are ready to turn their backs on them. The kids know they are both of this world and not, and there’s real grace in the way they juggle that.

Only a few members of the cast have the kind of height that makes them look like credible NBA prospects (Hill is nowhere near Durant’s 6′10″), but that doesn’t matter as far as the storytelling is concerned. “This is my grown man era,” Jace tells his mother (Shinelle Azoroh) and that’s an overarching theme this season: Of turning 18 and putting aside childish concerns (or dumping the boozy contents of a red Solo cup down the kitchen drain at a party) because the stakes are just too high.

It’s an absorbing ride. And by the time the boys are attending their end-of-year senior banquet, where they announce their college plans, I was taken aback by the protective pride I felt in these fictional characters.

As basketball diaries go, this one reads deep.

“Swagger” Season 2 — 3 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: Apple TV+

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic

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