Though Michael Jordan was not directly involved in the film, Ben Affleck consulted him numerous times to get details on how to accurately portray the story. According to Affleck, Jordan's only two requests were that Viola Davis play his mother and that his longtime friend Howard White be included in the film. Affleck always wanted to work with Chris Tucker, so he was cast as White. Tucker was also friends with White, and Affleck gave him a lot of flexibility for his performance.
Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, who play Michael Jordan's parents, are married in real life.
Peter Moore, original designer of the Air Jordan, the ball with wings logo, and the famous silhouette of Michael Jordan jumping, died in April 2022, three weeks before filming began. He left Nike in 1987 to join rival Adidas, where he redesigned the Adidas logo to the current version. He stayed until 1998.
There has been much historical debate about who came up with the "Air Jordan" name. The filmmakers decided to handle the matter as delicately as possible, portraying David Falk and Peter Moore coming up with the name separately, by sheer coincidence.
Despite being antagonistic toward Sonny Vaccaro in this film, in reality David Falk (Chris Messina) was the one who convinced Michael Jordan to accept the meeting with Nike.