A boy’s life takes a thrilling turn when he mysteriously gains the skills of an NBA star. From incredible dunks to jaw-dropping plays, he becomes a sensation… until his borrowed talent begins to fade, forcing him to find his own path to greatness.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

A local high school in Oklahoma goes up against a rival school at a basketball championship game. At half time, their coach, Amross, scolds the players for being behind at half time and allowing the other team to take the lead in the game. He also praises one of the players, Connor, and tells the other players to play like him.

As the team is about to head out for the second half, Connor throws a towel at a boy named Brian and makes fun of him because he’s the towel boy. Brian doesn’t like this, but he doesn’t say anything. Even though Brian has always loved Basketball, he hasn’t been able to make the team because he’s just not good enough.

After the last tryouts in which he put up a poor performance, he failed to get in again and was made the towel boy for the team. As Brian goes to sit alone on the bench, he looks quite sad because Amross doesn’t even know his name. The next day, Brian watches several clips of his favorite basketball player, Kevin Durant, and believes he can replicate some of the moves he has watched.

As he heads outside to try the new skills he just saw, Brian fails quite badly, and his sister, Ashley, records a video of him. Brian is not too happy about this, but Ashley just makes fun of him. After a while, Brian heads to school and meets his friend, Mitch, who says he has gotten them invites to a party happening during the weekend.

Brian doesn’t seem really interested in this because Mitch got the invites illegally, but his friend asks if he wants to stay at home alone during the weekend. Before Brian responds, he sees a new girl named Isabel walking to her class. Brian looks really attracted to her, and as he can’t stop staring at her, she smiles at him and walks away.

Later that day, during lunch, Brian sees Isabel sitting alone, and Mitch tells him that she’s a new girl who just moved into their neighborhood. Brian still can’t take his eyes off her, and he tells Mitch that he’ll talk to her. Mitch thinks it’s something he can plan to do in a few months’ time, but Brian looks ready to do it immediately.

Mitch doesn’t sound sure about this plan, but Brian says he has a good chance of talking to her because she’s sitting alone, and she also doesn’t know anything about him that might make her think he’s not cool. As Brian is walking up to her, some students sit next to Isabel, but he still doesn’t back off. When he finally gets to her table, Connor calls everyone’s attention to watch a video on the TV in the cafeteria.

As he plays the video, it turns out to be one of Brian’s fail videos, and Brian looks really sad because Isabel is also watching it. Before Brian can say anything, Connor starts a chant to make fun of him, and this makes him embarrassed, so he heads back to his seat. Interestingly, Isabel feels sorry for him, but she doesn’t say anything. As they leave school that day, Mitch tells Brian not to worry about what Connor did because he’s just a bad person. He also says he would’ve suggested standing up to the bully, but they can’t do that because he’s bigger than them.

A while later, Brian arrives home, and his dad, Joe, comes to his room and says he heard that his son had a bad day at school. Brian says he doesn’t want to talk about it, but Joe says he has an idea to cheer his son up by taking him to watch an Oklahoma City Thunders game. Brian is shocked to hear this, and he immediately agrees to follow Joe to the stadium because Kevin Duran plays for the Thunders.

As they get there, Brian looks quite excited and cheers for Kevin Durant every time he gets the ball or scores some points. At half-time, Brian analyzes the game with his dad and talks about some of Kevin’s moves. Joe can’t believe his son knows so much about basketball, and he mentions that his son would’ve gotten a scholarship to Havard if he was that good at Maths.

Brian then jokes that Kevin Durant isn’t his maths teacher, and Joe finds this funny. Shortly after, the stadium announcer informs everyone that it’s time for a lucky person to be selected to attempt to score a half-court shot for a chance to win a prize. As the lucky seat number is called, it turns out to be Joe, and Brian looks disappointed. Joe notices that his son is sad, so he switches their tickets and tells Brian to take the shot instead. Brian is extremely excited to do this, and as he gets to the middle of the court, he tells the announcer his name and looks prepared to take the shot.

Connor appears to be at the stadium, and he makes fun of Brian from his seat. Brian doesn’t seem to care about him, and this even motivates him to try to score the point. Unfortunately, though, Brian misses the shot, and the ball lands on the team’s mascot. Kevin Durant watches this as he’s about to return to the court for his second-half warm-up, and as he sees Brian looking embarrassed, he picks up the ball to sign it. As Brian leaves the court, Kevin Durant hands him the signed ball, and he looks shocked.

He then says he wishes he had Kevin Durant’s talent, and the basketballer says he also wishes he could give it to Brian. However, he mentions that hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Suddenly, a strange magical energy moves from Kevin’s hand to Brian’s hand, and even though they both notice it, they don’t seem to really care about it.

The next morning, Brian wakes up and turns off his radio as he hears that Kevin Durant played poorly during the second half. As he goes to the bathroom, he successfully throws his clothes into a basket even without looking at it, but he doesn’t seem to know. Later that day in biology class, Brian asks Mitch if he saw the failed half-court shot, and he says he did.

He adds that nearly everyone in the school also knows about it because Connor recorded it and posted it online. Brian looks unhappy about this, but he suddenly starts spinning a random object really well with one finger. Brian finds this weird, and Mitch also looks shocked because his friend couldn’t do something like that before.

A while later, Brian continues spinning a book as he gets home, but Ashley eventually interrupts him and says that he has to take her to a carnival that night. Brian says he’s not doing that, but Ashley keeps disturbing him that their parents want him to take her there. Later that night, Brian goes to the carnival with Mitch and Ashley.

Just as they arrive, Ashley gets tired of moving around with the boys, so she ditches them and walks with her friends. Shortly after, Mitch and Brian see Connor taking a shot to win a stuffed toy for Isabel. Despite his many attempts, Connor can’t seem to throw the ball into the net, and even Isabel says there’s no need for him to try anymore.

Connor says he’ll eventually score the point, but as he keeps missing his target, Mitch and Brian laugh at him. Connor looks pissed by this, and he throws the ball at Brian while saying he wants to see if someone as bad as him can even make the shot. Brian believes it’s not worth it, but as he’s about to walk away with Mitch, he turns back and throws the ball. Surprisingly, the ball goes into the net, and Brian can’t believe it. Connor says it was just a lucky shot, and he tells Brian to do it again.

Just as Brian shoots the ball again, he scores the point, and this leaves Mitch shocked too. Connor looks embarrassed because he couldn’t even make the shot once, so he tells Brian to try it a few more times. Interestingly, Brian successfully throws the ball into the basket a few more times, and Connor angrily walks away.

Brian then gives Isabel the prize he won for her, and he says he can’t believe what he did. Isabel also says she can’t believe it, but as Brian asks if he can carry her big stuffed toy with her, she agrees. The next day, Kevin Durant struggles to make several shots in training, and this worries his agent, Alan.

Even though Kevin believes he’s just experiencing a slump, Alan says it’s not normal for him to keep missing shots even in training. Alan also asks if Kevin is trying to play poorly for a reason, but he says it’s just a normal slump, and he’ll make sure things change before the next game. Meanwhile, Brian discovers that he’s now good at basketball.

After taking several shots from different angles outside his house, Brian looks shocked and can’t believe how good he is. That day, during his school’s basketball team practice, Brian goes there wearing a uniform, and Amross looks surprised. As he asks why Brian is wearing a uniform, he says he wants to try out for the team. Amross says that tryouts are over until next year, and Connor also mentions that the team can’t lose their towel boy. Brian insists that he wants to try out for the team, and Connor jokes that they’re no longer at the carnival.

As he says that everyone gets guarded on the court, Brian snatches the ball from him and tells Connor to guard him. Connor doesn’t think Brian is a match for him, but he’s left shocked when he fails to retrieve the ball after a few attempts. Amross cannot believe how good Brian is, and his assistant coach, Dan, also looks quite impressed. After a while, Amross and Dan decide to guard Brian to see how good he really is. Interestingly, Brian dribbles past them easily and scores with a dunk.

Amross looks impressed by this, and he agrees to let Brian be part of the team. Later that day, when Brian gets home, he tells Mitch to record him while trying to score with a dunk outside his house. Mitch thinks it’s dangerous because he has never seen his friend dunk before, but Brian says he’s sure he can do it.

Just then, Brian scores with the dunk, and Mitch cannot believe his eyes. Elsewhere, Kevin barges in on a meeting between Alan and another basketballer named Candace. Candace seems to be pissed that Alan is trying to paint her to the media as the new Kevin Durant, even though he’s playing poorly. Kevin looks disappointed to hear this, and as Candace tells him to get to the gym and turn around his performances, he says he will. The next day, Amross starts Brian in the championship game, and his parents are there to watch him.

During the pre-game speech, Amross tells the players to forget the fact that they haven’t won any game before because they’re now in a new era. Following this, the players head to the court and start playing against their rivals. During the first few minutes of the game, Connor refuses to pass to Brian, and as he misses some of his shots, Amross scolds him.

The coach also forces him to pass to Brian, and he’s left disappointed by this. In the next play, Brian finally gets the ball and uses a really nice skill to dribble past the opponents before scoring some points for his team. Brian’s mom, Laurie, is shocked by this, and as she asks Joe if he taught their son the new skill he just used, he says he doesn’t even know.

The rival team’s coach also can’t believe how good Brian is, but Amross just makes fun of him. After this, Brian scores many other points to help his team win the game. He then becomes quite popular at school, and Mitch starts selling shirts with Brian’s face on them. Mitch also gets everyone in the cafeteria to cheer for Brian after showing them his dunk video from the other day. Elsewhere, Alan watches an NBA show in which the guests criticize Kevin’s poor performances in the last few games.

Alan doesn’t seem to like this, and he starts thinking of how he can help Kevin. The next day, as Kevin arrives at the court for practice, Alan brings his mom to cheer him up. Kevin doesn’t think this is necessary, but Alan says they just need to try different things.

Meanwhile, Brian remains the star at his school, and he also starts getting closer to Isabel. When they meet at a Go-Kart arena, he asks about her stuffed toy from the other day, and she says it’s fine. As he keeps talking to her, Isabel thinks he’s trying to flirt with her, but he denies this. After a while, they race each other, and Isabel jokingly bumps into him so he can crash out of the race. The next day, while Kevin is trying to shoot a commercial, he fails to do anything good with the ball, and this leaves the director shocked.

Alan also can’t believe Kevin has really turned so bad, but he doesn’t say anything. Since Kevin is not shooting the ball so well, the director gets him to do something else for the commercial, but he still keeps tripping himself. Kevin looks embarrassed, and after a while, the director ends the shoot. Alan then asks Kevin if he wants to go home, but he says he’ll stay back at the gym. Shortly after, Alan arrives home and starts watching another show in which Kevin is criticized again.

During the show, the host mentions that there might be a new hot star in Oklahoma. He then talks about Brian and how he has seen clips of him, which indicate that he could be the next Kevin Durant. The host also says that Brian is the kid who woefully missed the half-court shot at the Oklahoma City Thunders game a while ago.

As the host jokingly mentions that Brian might’ve stolen Kevin’s talent, Alan looks surprised and starts thinking the same. After the show ends, he watches some of Brian’s clips and compares them with Kevin’s clips from when he was still very good. Interestingly, Alan sees some similarities in their game, and he believes that Brian really stole Kevin’s talent.

The next day, Alan goes undercover and attends one of Brian’s games. In the game, Alan watches Brian score some outrageous points and steal the show against the second-best team in the district. Later that day, Alan meets Kevin and tells him that he thinks he knows where his talent went.

As he says that someone took it, Kevin sounds shocked and asks what he means. Alan then reminds him of the boy he gave a signed ball after missing the half-court shot. Kevin says he remembers the kid, and Alan mentions that Brian used to be really bad at playing basketball before that day. He adds that he went to watch Brian the previous day and was left shocked by some of the skills he displayed. Alan says it reminded him of how Kevin used to play when he was younger, and that even though he doesn’t know how it happened, he’s sure that Brian now has Kevin’s talent.

Kevin thinks Alan is just making things up, and he says he doesn’t want to hear anything else about it. Later that night, while Brian is on his first date with Isabel, Alan interrupts them and sits next to them. Brian doesn’t get why he would do that, but as Alan introduces himself as Kevin’s agent, he looks quite excited.

The next day, Alan tells Kevin that he has been invited to a community outreach program for underprivileged schools. He then brings Kevin to Brian’s school and interrupts his class. Kevin realizes what Alan is trying to do, and even though he doesn’t like the idea, he just plays along. Alan then calls out Brian to stand next to Kevin. As Brian stands near his idol, he mentions that he’s such a huge fan, but Alan keeps trying to get them to hold hands.

After a while, Alan gets Kevin to try to throw a piece of paper into the dustbin, but he misses the target. Alan realizes that his talent isn’t back, so he tells Kevin and Brian to hang out together in the cafeteria. As they eat together, they’re surrounded by many students, and Brian asks Kevin if he ever gets used to having people around him.

He says he hasn’t gotten used to it yet, but that it’s just part of the game. After they’re done eating, Kevin and Brian walk toward the school’s entrance while talking about Kevin’s best games. Mitch tries to get Brian’s attention, but his friend just ignores him.

As Kevin says he has to leave, Alan notices that nothing has changed about him, so he mentions that they need to give some new shoes to the members of the basketball team. After doing this, Alan gets Kevin and Brian to stand close to each other and take pictures together, but this doesn’t change anything. As they finally leave the school, Alan asks if Kevin is feeling different, but he sounds pissed that his agent allowed him to waste his time at a school even though he has a game later that night.

Kevin also mentions that Alan is not helping him by trying to make him believe that someone stole his talent. Later that day, Brian plays really well for his school team, but he also starts to get selfish by not passing the ball to anyone. Connor isn’t happy about this, but Amross thinks it’s not so bad as long as the team is still winning.

Later that night, Kevin has another bad game, and he gets criticized harshly by some pundits. Elsewhere, Brian brags about how well he played to some of his schoolmates. Isabel finds this weird, and as she asks if it’s normal for one player to take all the shots, Brian says it is, as long as the person is the best player on the team.

Isabel feels he’s being arrogant, and she walks away from his side. Brian stops her and asks what’s wrong, and she tells him to stop being arrogant. As she also says she wishes they could spend more time talking alone, their schoolmates carry Brian away, and he doesn’t stop them.

Following this, Isabel heads home, and after a while, Brian notices that she’s no longer at the party. Just then, Alan shows up at the party and tells Brian that he needs to return Kevin’s talent. Brian doesn’t understand what he’s saying, but Alan explains his theory of how he thinks the high school kid swapped talents with Kevin. Brian says he worked hard to be as good as he is, and that he didn’t steal anyone’s talent. Alan then asks what his average score was before he met Kevin the other day, but Brian says he wasn’t on the team.

Alan uses this as a point to prove that he stole Kevin’s talent, but Brian asks why he’s trying to ruin the good things happening to him. Alan says he knows how important it is to Brian, but that he’s letting Kevin and the entire community down by holding on to Kevin’s talents while he continues to play poorly. The next day, Amross and Dan announce to all the students in the school that the basketball team is just one game away from reaching the state finals for the first time in their history.

As they all shout with excitement, Amross starts calling out every member of the team to the court. While Brian is waiting at the back, he sees Isabel and asks why she left the party so early the previous day. Isabel says she didn’t think he’d notice, but he says he did. He then asks what’s wrong, and she says they can hang out after the basketball season is over. Brian doesn’t understand this, but Isabel mentions that he has changed a lot since he joined the basketball team and became the star player.

Brian says she wouldn’t have noticed him without his talents, but Isabel mentions that she already noticed him on the first day she saw him talking to Mitch. As Brian gets distracted when he hears Amross calling his name, Isabel tells him to go out because his fans are waiting for him. Brian does just this and gets hailed by the students in the school.

After everyone leaves, Brian waits behind and asks Amross if he was ever close to making the team before he showed his new talents. Amross says he was really far from being called up for the team, and Brian looks sad to hear this. However, Amross tells him not to worry about that time or how he got to where he currently is.

He says that what matters is for Brian to continue doing well to help the team win its first trophy in years. The next day, Brian calls Alan and tells him that he’s finally ready to return Kevin’s talent. Alan then takes him to the gym, where Kevin is currently practicing his shots. As Brian meets Kevin, he says he wants to return Kevin’s talent, but the basketballer looks confused. He also says he can’t believe that Alan told Brian about his baseless theory.

Alan then tells Brian to show Kevin what he can do. Kevin doesn’t understand this, but Alan tells him to go up against Brian and watch the high school kid use his key moves on him. Kevin is initially hesitant about this, but as he agrees to do it, he realizes that Brian can do everything he used to do in the exact same way. Alan then asks if he now believes him, and Kevin says he does. As he asks what they’ll do, Alan gets Kevin and Brian to hold a ball and say the things they said to each other on the day they first met.

They do this for a few minutes and try out Kevin’s shots again, but he still keeps missing the target. After a while, Brian tells Kevin that he didn’t intentionally steal his talent, and he says he knows. He adds that he’ll have to start from scratch and become the Kevin he used to be again. As he walks away, Brian feels sad for him, but there’s nothing he can do. Later that night, Brian goes to Isabel’s house and says sorry for how he has been behaving.

She then invites him into her house, and he tells her about how he switched talents with Kevin Durant. Isabel doesn’t think it’s possible, but Brian shows her the video of his half-court shot. As Brian watches it again, he notices that the ball hit the mascot before Kevin signed it and gave it to him. Since this might be the key to returning Kevin’s talents, Brian leaves Isabel’s house and rides his bicycle to the stadium. As he arrives, he gets past security and rides his bike into the court until he sees Kevin heading out for his second-half practice.

Brian then explains that the ball hit the mascot first before he touched it, and Kevin tells him to do it again. After Brian throws the ball at the mascot, he holds it and tells Kevin to say that he wishes to have Brian’s talent. Kevin does just this, and as Brian says that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard, a magical energy moves from Brian’s hand to Kevin’s hand.

Brian then tells Kevin to head out for his match. Alan also shows up after this and stops the security guards from throwing Brian out of the stadium. Interestingly, Kevin plays very well and scores many points for his team. The pundits look impressed by this, and they mention that Kevin is back to his old form. The next day, Brian wakes up and heads out to try to shoot his ball into the net.

Unfortunately, he misses the target and realizes that he’s back to his old self. Later that day at school, Brian goes to meet Mitch to say sorry for ignoring him over the past few days. Mitch accepts his apology, and as Brian sits down, Isabel shows up and says she wants to talk to him.

Brian says he just sat down, but as she walks away, Mitch tells him to go and meet her. Following this, Brian stops Isabel, and she says she watched Kevin’s game the previous night and saw that he suddenly got better. As she asks if he was telling the truth, he says he was, and that he has returned Kevin’s talent. Isabel asks what will happen now, and Brian says he’ll be really awful at basketball. Isabel says he won’t, but he mentions that he knows what he’s saying.

Isabel then tells him not to worry about it because they’ll figure something out. The next day is the team’s important game that would send them to the state finals. As the players wait in the locker room, Amross comes in and encourages them to play well and win the game. He also tells Brian to give a speech, and even though he looks shocked, Amross says he’s their star player, and that he needs to encourage the others. Brian then mentions that losing won’t be too bad if they can’t win.

Amross doesn’t understand why he would say this, but the coach mentions that he’s sure the team will win. Shortly after, the players head out for the game, and during the first half, Brian shoots the ball badly a couple of times. Amross and Brian’s teammates are shocked by this, but his performance doesn’t improve. As they’re trailing by half-time, Amross asks what’s wrong with Brian because he’s not playing like himself. Brian says he is, but Amross doesn’t understand this, and he insists that his best player needs to play like himself again.

Brian then tells Amross to bench him, but he says he can’t. He adds that Brian is the one who led them to where they are, and he’ll play him until the game ends. As he then encourages the team to play well, they all head out for the third quarter. Brian still doesn’t improve, but the team plays slightly better. At the end of the third quarter, Kevin and Alan arrive at the school to watch Brian.

Meanwhile, Amross tells Dan to give a speech to encourage the boys. After he does this, Amross tells Brian that if he can’t play what he had, then he should play what he has actually got. Just then, Brian heads out to the court and sees Kevin and Alan at the entrance. Brian then tells his teammates that they’ll only be able to win if they work together and play as a team instead of one person having to take the shots. They all agree with him, and as they start the fourth quarter, the team plays well.

Just as they cut the lead to one point, Brian is given the ball with fifteen seconds left to the end of the game. He keeps passing it around, but as the ball gets to him again, he realizes that he needs to take the shot. Following this, Brian shoots the ball, and as it enters the basket, he wins the game for his team, and everyone cheers for him.

Kevin and Alan also look happy for him, but they eventually leave while Brian is being hailed by his teammates and other students in his school. A few days later, Brian goes to meet Kevin while he’s practicing his shots ahead of a big game. As Kevin then asks if he can borrow some of Brian’s talent, Brian jokes that it’s something that has to be earned. They then laugh about this and continue their training.

Brian always wanted to play on the school’s basketball team, and even though he knew he wasn’t good enough, he didn’t stop training. He eventually had some luck and magically swapped talents with his favorite basketball player.

This made him a great star for his school, but it came at the cost of watching Kevin Durant constantly play poorly for his team. Even though he had the chance to win his school’s first trophy with Kevin’s talents, Brian eventually gave it up just days before his big game.

This helped him discover his hidden talent, which ultimately led his team to victory.

With this, Brian learned that the best victories are those earned through perseverance, and by embracing one’s unique abilities.

Thunderstruck 2012.