The NBA has gone through a lot of changes since its inception. The various eras have made the league more exciting and have given fans many stars to root for. The 80s and 90s arguably brought the greatest stars to the game, but today there are quite a few great players shooting., passing, dribbling, and slam dunking all around the league. In a similar vein to the Netflix series Receiver, Netflix has pointed its cameras at a handful of current NBA stars in an in-depth documentary series called Starting 5. Nothing is left to the imagination. 

Starting 5 focuses on five of the NBA’s top stars. All in various stages of their careers. LeBron James from the Los Angeles Lakers. Arguably the greatest player of all time. Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics, who just won the NBA Championship. NBA veteran Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. Anthony Edwards, brash young upstart of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings, the son of NBA Legend Arvydas Sabonis.  All of these men have one thing in common: they want to win and show people who they are as players, fathers, husbands, and teammates.  That’s what this series shows.

The NBA season is long. The Commissioner has broken the season up with things to help the players get through it and get to the playoffs. The documentary does a similar thing. It introduces the hoopers as it says in the first two episodes. And splits the other episodes into sections of the season or moments that mean something to the players. An in-season tournament, all-star break, and Christmas day games help these players move through the season faster before they get to the NBA playoffs and eventually the NBA Finals. The series broke the season up into manageable bites that were digestible for viewers.

Each of the 5 players featured in the show had their own unique story and the cameras were allowed to go into the homes of these players. They were able to show the wives and children and other family members. Also, the director was able to show the various routines that the players used to get ready for a game and or prepare for the season as a whole. Sometimes recover from injuries they sustained during the grueling NBA season.  This series didn’t hold back on the in-depth details of these players’ lives on and off the court.

When you have a series like this you get to see the fun side of these men you wouldn’t otherwise see. For instance, LeBron is a huge fan of Halloween. He gets it from his mother, he said. He dresses up as Beetlejuice while his wife is one of the Undead women in the film. Jimmy Butler does press before the season as Emo-Jimmy and he’s got a funny haircut. Also, he does a Fallout Boy video with lead singer Pete Wentz. Some of the players play video games or take vacations with their families.  The series does a great job of showing all the different facets of these players’ lives.

With any documentary, you’re more than likely going to get a lot of talking heads. This series is no different than other shows or films. The talking heads, range from Mike Brown Kings Coach, Dave McManamin NBA Reporter, Ramona Shelburne NBA Journalist, Kevin Garrett ex-NBA/Celtics Great, Celtics Head Coach Joe Mezzula, Mike Mancias Lebron James Trainer, Rich Paul Sports Agent, and Renee Montgomery NBA Analyst just to name a few. That doesn’t include all the family members who have a chance to say their two cents about their husband, son, brother, or father. It’s an exceptional lineup of people who talk on camera about these great players.

As a fan of the Boston Celtics, I was most interested in learning about and watching the stuff involving Jadon Tatum. The team he plays on now is the best since the 08/09 team that had Kevin Garrett,  Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce. He and Jalen Brown were joined by Kristaps Porzingas which is what the Celtics needed to put them over the top finally in the league as the best team. Tatum knew he was a part of a legacy he couldn’t let down. Fans will embrace you if you are a star in Boston similar to Larry Bird and others that came before him. The show showed a side of Tatum I didn’t know about being able to watch from afar. How close he was with his mother and of course his son Deuce. He is a player I and many others can be proud to root for in the Celtics Green for many years to come. What a star.

Starting 5 isn’t usually the kind of thing I gravitate towards. Sure I like documentaries but not like this. I’ve been lukewarm in the NBA for years, but this series shed new light on a league and its players that I could get behind. The inside look of everything from workouts to family holidays and everything in between was put on the screen along with of course all the next-level NBA action. The rivalries and smack talk. The series showed a lot of stuff I wasn’t aware of in these men’s lives. That’s why these shows are a necessity.  They bring something new to an old thing we all know. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this series was and how much I enjoyed it, not just during the Jason Tatum parts.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen