Walton’s life story is in fantastic hands with director James, who has a uncommon touch for sports and the people today who play them (“Hoop Dreams,” “Prefontaine”). In lengthy drives, James nerds out about distinct matches with these who shared the spotlight with Walton, in particular when Walton created his way to the NBA Finals with the Blazers in ’77, and later the Celtics in ’86. But the interest in this formal but compelling project is mostly about emotional memorabilia, and so we are treated with a bounty of off-the-cuff remembrances from his peers like Larry Bird, Abdul Jabbar, Globe B. Absolutely free, and other people. James creates the sort of reunions in which close friends, family members, and teammates are a single and the identical, and anecdotes abound. It tends to make you giddy to hear what was shared off the record, but in this uncommon case, it is obvious there wasn’t something poor stated about Walton. 

James tells this on-court profession in loving detail, with a fantastic concentrate on his emotional downfall when foot and knee injuries started to bring about him to sit out for hundreds of total games, though contracts ensured he created dollars in the procedure. The documentary does not pretty comprehensive the believed about how a bike-riding hippie could also develop into the highest-paid player at the time, but it does get at the emotional core of how these offers didn’t make Walton’s lack of playing, and the guilt from letting down his teammates, any much easier to accept. In significantly less jovial moments, Walton has a stark seriousness on-camera that hints at how he felt for the duration of his darkest years. 

All through James’ docuseries, Walton is adorned in tie-dye shirts, proclaiming a love for the Grateful Dead that has been lengthy-lasting and soul-filling. He found the music of Jerry Garcia and organization though ascending as a basketball phenomenon, and he has only sought to pass on the vibes. (“Bill turned us all into Grateful Dead fans,” Larry Bird remarks.) And the band assists inform his story: James locations a complete trove of Grateful Dead songs more than Walton’s gameplay footage, and puts a tie-dye framing to the doc’s extra standard photo-driven sections. As “The Luckiest Man in the World” goes back and forth in his profession, highlights fellow teammates like Maurice Lucas, and shows off Walton’s rocker-themed bedrooms, the Dead’s presence right here becomes instructive. This four-hour docuseries is just jamming, man.