Netflix just gave fans their first taste of Starting 5 starring LeBron James. A new trailer for the documentary series sees the freshly-minted 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist recruiting a squad to navigate another pressure-packed season in the NBA. Bringing the ball up the court is social media wunderkind Anthony Edwards. At the swingman is NBA hipster first-teamer Jimmy Butler, along with NBA Finals standout Jayson Tatum and rounding out the squad is the severely underrated Domantas Sabonis. Netflix is excited for fans to get a glimpse of what this grind is like from the other side of the cameras.
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Here’s what Netflix has to say about the series: “The series captures their battles on and off the court as they chase greatness, push through injuries, and balance the demands of family and legacy. James pushes himself harder than ever to stay healthy — and dominant — in his 21st season, while Edwards electrifies with his rapid rise. Butler’s relentless drive propels the Heat, Sabonis anchors the Kings with his versatile play, and Tatum leads the Celtics in their quest for a record 18th championship. Starting 5 delivers an unfiltered view of life at the pinnacle of professional basketball.”
LeBron’s Olympic Teammates Get Some Shine
This isn’t LeBron James and Uninterrupted’s first dance with Netflix. He appeared in The Redeem Team documentary Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant. That experience is a Millennial-era touchstone from 2008’s Olympic Games. Beijing was a wild time. Netflix asked director Jon Weinbach why he picked that Olympic team to follow on their quest for gold.
“I think it’s the same bar that makes any great sports story fodder for a documentary. It’s a human story that happens to be framed around sports. The Redeem Team is a combination of the Dream Team and the Other Dream Team. Unlike every American basketball team until then, these guys had lost,” Weinbach remembered. “They had lost not once, not twice, three times. The ’02 team had lost in the world championships. The 04 team had ‘lost’ by only winning bronze at the Olympics. The ’06 had lost. And it’s about the different notions of success. And when you’re the American basketball team, there’s only one metric for success: It’s winning.”
He continued, “But the part that made this [story] attracted to me, not just a sports story, but as a film, is that the main guys in the film – Lebron, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Kobe, Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] – all had different things they were trying to redeem in Beijing.”
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