Air Bud

The plot revolves around a 12-year-old boy, Josh Framm, who has an interest in basketball. After the death of his father, Josh moves with his family to Washington State and is too shy to try out for his middle school's basketball team and too shy to make any friends. He meets Buddy, a Golden Retriever who had escaped from his cruel owner, an alcoholic clown named Norman Snively, who had locked Buddy in a kennel after a bad birthday party and was taking him to the pound when the kennel fell off the truck. Josh soon learns that Bud has the ability to play the sport of basketball. Josh's mom initially only agrees to let him keep the dog until Christmas and she plans to send him to the pound if the true owner isn't found. However, Josh's mother sees how much Josh loves Buddy. When Josh wakes up on Christmas Day and Buddy is not in his room, he goes downstairs and sees his mom with Buddy with a bow on his head. She gives Buddy to Josh as a Christmas present.

Josh wants to join the basketball team but chickens out at the last minute and becomes the water boy. After two slots are opened up and learning of Buddy's talent, Josh tries out despite the coach's reluctance and makes the team. At his first game Buddy shows up and disrupts the game and causes mayhem, but the audience loves him. After the game Buddy finds the team's coach abusing Tom, one of Josh's fellow teammates and friend who gave him a lucky orange peel he got at a Seattle SuperSonics game. The coach is fired and replaced by the school's engineer who Josh discovers is a former New York Knicks player. Buddy becomes the mascot of Josh's school's basketball team and begins appearing in their halftime shows. But just before the championship game, Buddy's original owner, Snively, tricks his mom and steals Buddy from Josh. Josh then infiltrates Snively's backyard where Buddy is. Snively initially can't see Josh due to a stack of cans on his windowsill until it falls and Josh is caught infiltrating Snively's backyard. Josh gets Buddy off the chain, causing Snively to chase Josh in his clown truck. The chase rages on to a parking lot near a lake, during which the van's steering wheel is accidentally taken off, causing Snively and his clown truck to fall into the water but he doesn't drown. A few minutes after the chase, Josh then decides to set him free to find someone else. Initially, his team is losing at the championship until Buddy shows up. When it is discovered that there is no rule that a dog cannot play basketball, Buddy joins the roster to lead the team to a come from behind championship victory.

Snively sues the Framm family for custody of Buddy. Fortunately, at the suggestion of Josh's coach, who the judge was a fan of, it is decided that the dog will choose who will be its rightful owner. During the calling, Snively takes out his roll of newspaper, which he often used to beat Buddy, and snaps at him, causing Buddy to attack Snively and run towards Josh. The judge grants custody of Buddy to Josh while Snively is dragged away by the police.