He Got Game is a 1998 sports drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington as Jake Shuttlesworth, a prison inmate convicted for murdering his wife. The father of the top-ranked basketball prospect in the country, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Jake is released on parole for a week by the state's governor in order to persuade his son to play for the governor's alma mater in exchange for a heavily-reduced prison sentence.