The best kind of cameo.
Athlete cameos are, unquestionably, the champagne of fleeting celebrity appearances in film.
No other brief appearances come close to touching pro athlete cameos in terms of sheer, per-pound entertainment.
For example, I can think of maybe three general celeb cameos off the top of my head that were impactful enough to remember. When I think of athlete cameos, I can think of three in the movie Space Jam alone.
With that said, the following are the 25 best athlete cameos in movie histor. They are the cream of the crop and feature a wide spectrum of acting chops ranging from Actually Good to This is a Car Wreck I Can't Look Away From.
But they are all very, very good in their own weird and unwieldy ways.

Larry Bird in 'Space Jam'

Tom Brady in 'Stuck on You'

Hines Ward in 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Darius Miles in 'Van Wilder'

Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 'Talladega Nights'

Rex Ryan in 'That’s My Boy'

Derek Jeter in 'The Other Guys'

Mike Ditka in 'Kicking and Screaming'

Lee Trevino in 'Happy Gilmore'

The Rock, 'The Mummy Returns'
At the time of The Mummy Return's release, seeing Dwayne Johnson's marble-cut chin CG animated into a giant scorpion god-king felt like watching a literal miracle of modern science.
Fifteen years later, it looks lke his face was slapped on via mascara brush and is the color of undercooked chicken. But at the time, The Rock as the Scorpion King was the coolest thing ever.
Crowning Moment: CG Rock eyebrow raise.

Tom Brady in 'Ted 2'

LeBron James in ‘Train Wreck'

Reggie Jackson in ‘Naked Gun'

Muggsy Bogues in 'Space Jam'

Bob Uecker in 'Major League'

Dan Marino in 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'

Brett Favre in 'There’s Something About Mary'

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in ‘Airplane!'

O.J. Simpson in 'Naked Gun'

John McEnroe in 'Mr. Deeds'

Cam Neely in 'Dumb and Dumber'

Mike Tyson in 'The Hangover'

Lance Armstrong in 'Dodgeball'

Lawrence Taylor in 'The Waterboy'
A sports cameo I will selfishly promote as the best of all time due to the joy it brought me as a child and the fact it is the best of all time.
Crowning Moment: LT's head-to-toe appraisal look before telling campers not to smoke crack.