When Woody Harrelson was making this movie, the producers hired Bob Lanier, the retired Detroit Pistons' center, as a basketball coach. Harrelson, who had played some basketball in college, was bragging to Lanier about what a great player he was. Lanier invited Harrelson to play a little one-on-one. Harrelson later described it as "the most embarrassing fifteen minutes of my life."
Local Venice basketball legend Ron Beals appears as the player with the grey beard and purple spandex shorts in the opening game, and then again later as a spectator in the background. Beals is considered the pioneer of the jump shot while playing at Loyola in the '59-'60 season. To this day he is celebrated annually in Venice with a Ron Beals Day event. Ron Beals played every day until his death at 78 from a stroke.
According to their basketball instructors, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson reached the skill level to be able to start for an NCAA Division III team.
Woody Harrelson was significantly better at basketball than Wesley Snipes. However, in the movie they are depicted as equals, though Harrelson's character famously cannot dunk.
In the film, Woody Harrelson's character makes a reference to suspected John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. In real life, Harrelson's own father had also been targeted as a possible accomplice in the killing.