Netflix’s documentary series about the NBA, Starting 5, will come back for a second season and that is fantastic news for basketball fans.
The first season featured big stars LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Jimmy Butler, and Domantas Sabonis. It was an enjoyable and entertaining watch that offered fascinating insights into the world of players at dramatically different points in their careers.
USA TODAY’s For The Win spoke to Sabonis about his experience filming the show and what it was like having a documentary career following him around during the Sacramento Kings season.
For those that watched and enjoyed, they can have something more to look forward to.
Sources: Cast for season two of Netflix's NBA documentary series Starting 5: Kevin Durant, James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton. šæšæšæ pic.twitter.com/FYlsRDLf0o
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the show is coming back for another season (!) and will feature five new fresh faces.
The cast is Kevin Durant,Ā James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, and Tyrese Haliburton. The show will follow them during the 2024-25 NBA campaign, which features Brown defending his 2024 NBA championship and Gilgeous-Alexander pursing a potential MVP award.
Obama did not realize it at first but now finds it hilarious.
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama met with Team USA basketball and had a hilarious interaction with the players and coaching staff.
Obama had a familiarity with several players and coaches including Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Erik Spoelstra, and Steve Kerr. That much was quite obvious when he greeted each of them for a handshake.
But the former POTUS was not as familiar with Team USA assistant coach Mark Few, who is also the head coach of Gonzaga Men’s Basketball. During a recent interview with Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was on Team USA this summer, Obama said he had never met Few.
Tyrese had to ask Obama about doing the Key & Peele handshake sketch IRL w/ Team USA basketball š¤£š pic.twitter.com/bu7mapUYwP
So when it came time to shake his hand, he wasn’t sure what greeting to go with. In the conversation, he admitted that it ended up looking a lot like an iconic sketch fromĀ Key & Peele at a meet and greet:
“I gotta say, that was funny. But here’s what happened. Here’s what happened. So I’m going down the row, right? A lot of those guys, I knew. And then right before I got to Coach Few, it’s Steph, it’s LeBron. I’ve been knowing those guys forever. I had dinner with them, their families. So then Coach Few, I’d never met. And he put out his hand and I’m like, alright. Yeah. I don’t know. Is he going to be comfortable if I pull him into a bro hug? I don’t know. So I just shook his hand. Kerr was right afterward. And Steve I knew. But the way it played out, I will say, it looked just like that Key & Peele skit.”
Obama revealed that he did not know that people would make the comparison because it was not a “conscious” decision.
You can watch the version from his presidency and the version from the Olympics:
When he watched it side-by-side, he felt like people “caught” him.
The former president added that the two comedians did plenty of funny sketches surrounding his presidency and believes that Jordan Peele does a fantastic impression of him.
Meanwhile, this was a great job by Haliburton to ask the question.
The Indiana Pacers could once again blow past expectations this season, and they have the potential to emerge as a Top 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. GM Kevin Pritchard has assembled a talented group that has already shown what they’re capable …
The Indiana Pacers could once again blow past expectations this season, and they have the potential to emerge as a Top 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. GM Kevin Pritchard has assembled a talented group that has already shown what theyāre capable of, especially after their surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
The addition of Pascal Siakam in January solidified the Pacersā core. Siakam’s stellar play, shooting a career-high 54.9 percent from the field and averaging 20-plus points per game for the fifth consecutive season, adds a critical piece to Indianaās offense. Pairing Siakam with Myles Turner gives the Pacers the potential to turn their already elite offense into a more balanced team. If they can lift their defense into the Top 15 in defensive rating, they could be one of the most complete units in the league.
Tyrese Haliburton‘s health will be key, as he drives the engine of the offense, and with the depth the Pacers have their rotation is stacked. Obi Toppin, who played all 82 games last season and averaged a career-high 10.3 points, strengthens an already deep roster.
Tyrese Haliburton knows how special Caitlin Clark is.
One Indiana basketball staple paid tribute to another at their shared stadium on Friday night.
Indiana Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton attended Friday night’s Indiana Fever game against the Phoenix Mercury, one where rookie phenomenon Caitlin ClarkĀ had one of her best starts of the season.
Haliburton wanted the world to know what he was seeing at Friday’s game, as he tweeted while he was in attendance: “Hope y’all seeing what 22 doin at Gainbridge.”
That is such a cool way for Haliburton to give Clark her flowers as the two try to forge a new era for excellent Indiana basketball in the NBA and WNBA.
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Winās basketball newsletter.Ā Subscribe hereĀ to get itĀ delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew?Ā Leave your questions, comments and concernsĀ through this brief reader survey. Now, hereās Bryan Kalbrosky.
The 2024 Paris Olympics are in the rearview mirror and to no surprise, the United States once again earned a gold medal in basketball.
Led by a trio of NBA veterans, the U.S. men’s basketball roster was thrilling. Basketball fans were delighted to see LeBron James play with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant at the same time and the results were incredible.
Now that the Olympics will leave France and the United States will become the next host nation, the focus will shift to what the roster could look like in 2028.
It is an impossible question to answer because so much of this depends on health, interest, coaching, development, and various other circumstances we can’t predict.
But based on what we know so far, factoring in age and relationships with the USA Basketball, here is our best guess as of right now:
GUARDS
Anthony Edwards
Devin Booker
Tyrese Haliburton
Donovan Mitchell
Tyrese Maxey
FORWARDS
Jayson Tatum
Paolo Banchero
Scottie Barnes
Cooper Flagg
BIGS
Bam Adebayo
Chet Holmgren
Evan Mobley
Noah Lyles denies beef with Anthony Edwards
Photos by MARTIN BERNETTI Damien MEYER / AFP
U.S. track and field sprinter Noah Lyles caused some more controversy this weekend:
“Two of the biggest stars from the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics were Noah Lyles and Anthony Edwards.
Lyles and Edwards both became first-time Olympic gold medalists this summer. Before testing positive for COVID-19 and withdrawing from the Olympics this year, Lyles won a gold medal in the 100 meter for track and field. Edwards was a standout performer on the U.S. menās basketball roster.
Both gold medalists have signed endorsement deals with the shoe company adidas. Recent reporting suggests that there is potentially animosity between the two, but Lyles is attempting to squash those growing rumors.”
The U.S. men’s basketball team locked up the Olympic gold medal on Saturday evening in Paris with an exciting 98-87 victory over host country France. The Americans got big performances out of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant over the course of the tournament, but naturally not everyone on the team got equal playing time.
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton saw action in just three of the United States’ six games, playing a combined 26 minutes total. Following the gold medal victory over France, Haliburton took to social media for the most perfect post.
“When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A,” he shared alongside a picture of himself holding his medal.
Many coaching decisions that fall under public scrutiny can be put to bed that simply for me. If it worked, let’s move on.
That’s where I stand when it comes to Steve Kerr’s decision to bench Jayson Tatum Sunday for all of Team USA’s win over Serbia in group play of the Paris Olympics. Many people found it to be disrespectful to a First Team All-NBA player fresh off leading his team to a championship — especially given two of his Boston Celtics teammates combined for almost 40 minutes in the game. But as Kerr explained after the win, the matchup and Kevin Durant’s return from injury dictated Tatum sit.
The results speak for themselves. USA won by 26 points. Let’s move on. The only thing owed to Tatum was a conversation about the decision. Kerr said that took place prior to the game.
"He handled it really well. I talked to him today before the game that it may play out this way just with Kevin coming back… Jayson's gonna play… I felt like an idiot not playing him" -Steve Kerr pic.twitter.com/xwndCt6GW1
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod šøš“ (@big_business_) July 28, 2024
Steve Kerr to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:
“It’s tough. But Jayson handled it really well. I talked to him today before the game that it may play out this way, just with Kevin coming back. The lineups that I wanted to get to. But that’ll change. Jayson’s going to play. Every game is going to be different based on matchups.”
What more needs to be said? Kerr picked a 10-man lineup he thought would work best, and he struck gold. When this many stars came together for one goal, sacrifices were always going to be necessary. Tyrese Haliburton also received a DNP-CD. When the U.S. plays South Sudan on Wednesday, it could be two different players. Kerr already revealed Tatum will play in that game.
“Jayson will play [Wednesday],” Kerr said, via ESPN. “I’m not going to answer your next question, which is if he plays, who doesn’t. But we’re going to need him, and part of this job for me is to keep everybody engaged and ready, because my experience with this is crazy stuff happens.”
Some people have argued that Tatum could have played in the second half of the blowout. But as analyst Tim Legler explained, giving a star garbage minutes would have been almost more disrespectful. Once the decision was made to not play Tatum in the first half,Ā you can’t put him in when the game is out of reach.
— championship bradš (@CelticsPost) July 29, 2024
Tim Legler:
“Once he didn’t play in the first half, it becomes then something for the coach to not disrespect him. As crazy as that sounds, it’s more disrespectful to give him a few minutes at the end of the game than not play him. Because by not playing him, Steve Kerr is saying ‘you know what? I can’t play 12 guys.”
That’s exactly what Kerr said. He doesn’t believe he can play more than 10 players in a 40-minute game. He’s wrong, of course. Kerr can do whatever he wants. He’s the coach. But he’s probably right that it doesn’t make sense to force minutes for more than 10 players in a 40-minute game.
The only problem now is that Kerr has established this as his base philosophy for the rest of these Olympics. So, barring games that get wildly out of hand in the first two quarters, we should expect to see at least two players sit each game going forward. And it’s a situation I’m glad I don’t have to manage.
All it takes is one player to not handle being benched as gracefully as Tatum to make this entire experiment incredibly awkward. And if Kerr concedes by trying to play everyone going forward, the Serbia game ends up looking a lot more disrespectful towards Tatum.
As it stands now, though, it was the right call. It’s on Kerr to figure out how to walk that tightrope the rest of the way to gold.
Because of how elite he is defensively,” said the star Pacers guard.
It might surprise you to hear that veteran Boston Celtics combo guard Jrue Holiday is the player another member of Team USA is most looking forward to seeing take the floor in the 2024 Paris Olympics. But for Indiana Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, it’s true.
The Pacers floor general recently said as much in an interview with the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach about the guard that literally spooked him into a critical turnover that ultimately sealed Indiana’s fate in the NBA’s 2024 Eastern Conference finals. “I think heās just the best defensive player, the best defensive guard, for sure, in the NBA,” said Haliburton.
“Iāll never be able to be like him physically, but mentally picking his brain, seeing how he does what he does at such a high level,” he added.
New episode of the Celtics Lab Podcast on YouTube, via @CelticsCLNS āļøš§Ŗšŗ@Ky_Carlin stops by to look at how the Sixers will fare next season against the Celtics before breaking down the rest of the East
Hali opened up about how he knew his hamstring injury would doom his team against the Celtics
One of the cool things about playing for the US National Team in the Olympics is that players who are normally trying to rip each other’s hearts out find themselves sudden, temporary teammates in the service of their country. And sometimes, some unique perspectives on past events end up coming to light in that process.
And that is exactly what happened when the Boston Celtics media got a hold of Indiana Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who opened up about how he knew his hamstring injury would doom his team against the Celtics at a recent media availability session last week.
Our friends over at the “CLNS Media Boston Sports Network” YouTube channel managed to get it on video for your viewing pleasure — check it out below!
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe hereĀ to get itĀ delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes
Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve got a great weekend ahead of you. Those Memorial Day cookouts are about to be popping!
Hopefully, we get some good playoff basketball to go along with that in these Conference Finals. That might be tough in the Eastern Conference, though.
That’s the same hamstring he injured in January in January against the Celtics. It’s been plaguing throughout the season. For it to pop up again now, at the worst possible time, is just awful luck.
That’s generally how it’s been going in the Eastern Conference, though. Six of the eight teams in the playoffs have seen key players either miss time in the postseason with injuries or be severely hampered by them.
New York Knicks:Ā Jalen Brunson (fractured hand), OG Anunoby (strained hamstring), Mitchell Robinson (Stress fracture)
Philadelphia 76ers:Ā Ā Joel Embiid (knee soreness)
Miami Heat:Ā Jimmy Butler (MCL Sprain)
Obviously, health isn’t a factor anyone can control. It’s always a big part of the conversation in the playoffs ā the teams that can stay the healthiest are the ones that usually make the deepest runs. That’s why it’s not shocking to see Boston, Minnesota and Dallas playing as well as they are right now.
But, man. What happened to the East this year is just plain weird. Hopefully, we’ll have better luck next year.
How is Lonzo Ball walking?!?
Injured Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball sits on the bench during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at United Center on Jan. 13, 2023.
I’ve been wondering what’s going on with Lonzo Ball for a while now.
It’s been two full NBA seasons since we last saw him on a basketball court. Obviously, his knee injury is the reason why. But I’ve always wondered just how the injury got so bad that it required him to rehab forĀ this long.Ā
Well, folks. Now we know.
Ball gave us the nitty gritty on his knee injury on his new “What an Experience” podcast with his friend, DMo. And, well, yeah, I get it now, Zo.
āTo make a long story short, ultimately, it started with a meniscus tear. It basically started with the Lakers when I tore it the first time. Tore it a couple more times to a point to where there was no more meniscus left. Bone on bone was rubbing. So the cartilage was gone and the bone was messed up. So I had to get new meniscus from a donor, I had to get a bone allograft and I had to get some new cartilage put in as well. All that healed up and now Iām back on the court.āĀ
Fam. It sounds like the doctors essentially rebuilt Ball’s knee. That’sĀ rough.Ā That’s why he’s been out for so long. All of that is going to take a while to recover from.
I hope we get to see Ball on a basketball court soon. But, more than that, I hope his knee is good after all that. Sheesh.
