Starting 5: A Love Letter to Basketball
Starting 5's stars (Netflix)
Last week, Netflix released its latest sports docuseries, “Starting 5.” The long-awaited show follows five NBA stars –LeBron James, Anthony Edwards, Domantas Sabonis, Jimmy Butler, and Jayson Tatum—throughout the 2023-2024 season, giving fans a deeper dive into their everyday lives to understand what happens off the courts. What may appear on the surface as a behind-the-scenes look goes beyond that. It’s an invitation into their personal lives to understand the everyday actions that make these great players also great men.
The show doesn’t shy away from exploring any of these topics. Whether it’s the celebration of new lives or the tribulations of losing loved ones, the show’s primary focus is to navigate the players’ vulnerability when opening up about their personal lives in the most respectful way, making the watcher feel like they are going through all these emotions with them and connecting with these athletic icons on a deeper level. As Jimmy Butler said it best, “We hurt, and we cry, and we grieve, and we’re angry. Something’s going on in our life, and you can’t see it, just like we don’t understand what’s going on in your life either, but that doesn’t make us a bad person for being human.”
As exciting as it is watching these athletes excel in their careers and demonstrate why they are some of the top players in the league, the show uses the game merely as an excuse to tell their stories and introduce us to who they really are when they are not playing it. However, the 2023-2024 season came with many implications and big personal moments for each of them, both on and off the court, giving the show the perfect balance between the player and the man as they deal with these situations.
These men are loving fathers, devoted partners, and caring sons. If the show is any indication, it’s safe to say any championship title or professional recognition they get will mean nothing to them if it can’t be shared with their close ones. While basketball keeps them away from them for the most part, it’s also what brings them together. Be it because they grew up learning to play it with them, like Jayson and his dad, or even watching them play it, like Domas and his also-NBA-star dad Arvydas, basketball has always been an intrinsic thread in the tapestry of their lives, which is flawlessly depicted in the show.
Overall, it’s an emotional watch, both in the high and low ends of the spectrum, that gives us a newfound admiration for these athletes as we understand that they are more than the stats and numbers they achieve in each game. It’s a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding job, but with the undeniable talent they possess, we’d only gotten to see the part where they make it look easy, until now.
The love they have for basketball is so tremendous that it’s evident how it influences their personal lives and vice versa. Their human experiences only nourish their game, allowing them to become either the first player to score 40,000 points in their careers, the player who got his team to the conference finals for the first time in 20 years, the player who made 26 triple-doubles in a season, the player who can get an MCL injury and still stay in the game to score 19 points more, or even the player who can wear a “0” on his back only to be the hero and lead his team to a championship title.
The show is not only a way for them to tell us who they are; it’s also a warm “thank you” to both the sport that has given them so much throughout their lives and to the people who have made it possible along the way.