Life in the NBA isn’t easy — just ask the league’s stars like LeBron James.
James, 39, stars in Starting 5, Netflix’s new 10-part series that follows five of the NBA’s brightest stars through the 2023-24 season. The streaming giant released the first trailer on Tues. Sept. 17 and the Lakers star can be seen opening up about how his family gets him through a demanding basketball season.
“Losing does hurt,” Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler begins in the trailer before James chimes in: “But what always brings me back is my family,” as footage of the father-of-three embracing his daughter, Zhuri Nova James, 9, is shown.
Starting 5 follows James, Butler, Boston Celtics champion Jayson Tatum, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings.
Netflix promises that Starting 5 will offer fans an in-depth look into the lives of the five NBA stars on and off the court as they navigate their personal lives amid a busy season, pushing through injuries and chasing “greatness” in the league.
Butler, 35, an accomplished star in the league who has ventured into outside endeavors like his own coffee company and musical projects, calls himself “a king of all trades” in the trailer for Starting 5. “I think that’s what the saying is, a Black king of all trades,” Butler quips.
Edwards, 23, navigates his quick rise to basketball fame in the series, including Minnesota’s exciting playoffs run last season that inspired Edwards’ “Bring Ya Ass” campaign. “It’s hectic, but I don’t think nobody could stop me,” the Timberwolves star says in the trailer.
“No one’s ever seen me in an intimate space like this,” says 28-year-old Sabonis, a Lithuanian basketball player who was drafted in 2016. Sabonis has turned Sacramento’s poor luck around as one of the team’s biggest stars, but fans also may remember him as the player who Warriors star Draymond Green stomped on during the 2023-24 season, resulting in a suspension for Green.
For Tatum, Starting 5 captures the Celtics star during the team’s championship season and Tatum’s first NBA title. “It might be a game for you, but this is like, my life,” Tatum says in the trailer.
“There’s an expectation that comes with it,” Tatum — whose adorable son Deuce has become a star in his own right — adds of playing in the league as a reporter accuses him of not playing as hard as his opponents during a midseason press conference.
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“Family over everything,” Savannah James, who has mostly remained private since she married the basketball great in 2013, says in her sit-down interview for the series.
In April, Savannah told PEOPLE she was feeling ready to share a “more personal side” of herself with fans now that the couple’s children were older. In addition to Zhuri, LeBron and Savannah share Bronny James, 19, who was just drafted to the Lakers alongside his dad, and their younger son Bryce James, 16.
Starting 5 begins streaming on Netflix on Oct. 9.
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