Last month Netflix released High Flying Bird, a film written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Midnight; directed by Steven Soderbergh, and shot entirely on an iPhone. A resume like that has enough sizzle to drown out the meat of its message — one that surprisingly eschews Hollywood cliché to question the way we structure the sports we all love.

The film centers around sports agent Ray Burke, played by André Holland, during an NBA lockout. Burke represents a rookie, Erick Scott (Melvin Gregg), the recent top pick in the draft. Erick’s struggling with the lack of a paycheck and the reality that no one knows how long the work stoppage may last. Ray laments that Erick, rather than focusing on how he might change the game or better the world, is only concerned with what players are trained to focus on: the money, their egos, the lifestyle. Erick sees himself as a cog desperately waiting for the machine to resume running. Ray wants the players to break the machine and build a new one, to create “a whole infrastructure that put[s] the control back in the hands of those behind the ball instead of those up in the skybox.”

On the flip side from Erick is Samantha (Zazie Beetz), Ray’s former assistant, who always sees the big picture and who, like Ray, is always a few steps ahead. Early in the film Sam is offered a job with the Players Association by its head, Myra (Sonja Sohn). It’s an opportunity most would associate with success and ambition, but Sam gives perhaps the most inspiring rejection ever: “Oh. I don’t like to be used.” While Sam is full of plans and drive, unlike Erick she doesn’t want to work for anybody. Beetz’s performance might be the star attraction if not for Jeryl Prescott owning every scene she’s in as Emera Umber, the mother of Jamero Umber, the New York team’s best player and Erick’s teammate and principal rival both on the court and in social media.