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Ray Romano is pulling from real-life basketball figures for his latest role. While speaking with PEOPLE at Netflix’s Running Point season 2 premiere event in Los Angeles on April 15, Romano revealed he modeled his character, Coach Norm Stinson, after a legendary person in the NBA.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the league plans to paint the NBA Finals and Larry O’Brien Trophy logos on the courts this year after being criticized for using decals and virtual signage last season. ESPN in October first reported the change would occur. During an appearance Wednesday on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, Silver recounted the controversy from last spring, saying, “We had the decals. The decals were slippery, the guys didn’t like those. We then started putting them on virtually. … The people in the arena said, ‘Where’s the branding? Where’s the Finals fanfare? Now we’re back to old-school painting those logos on the floor. They’re safe.” Podcast co-host Dan Katz said, “We’re big believers in that. The NBA Finals should feel special” (“Pardon My Take,” Netflix, 4/22).
What made now the right time to tell your full story with Untold: The Life and Death of Lamar Odom? Lamar Odom: “Well, the secret Netflix had a good paycheck, bro (laughs)," Odom said. "No, but it's a time and place for everything. I don't know what made me relevant now. “I thought it was something that I had totally, totally gotten past. But I understand that, me being a Laker and the first black Kardashian, always have some relevance here in America. “And so, would not be a better time to tell my truth. You know what I mean? A lot of people probably had it misunderstood and thought that a drug addict went to the brothel one night and bought a big bag of cocaine and overdosed. I was living in Vegas, and I didn't make the connection. I didn't have a cocaine connection yet. And so, that was, I considered it as a hit. “So, still some trauma that comes along with that, too, because, oh, they're going to come back. Do I need to sleep with the gun under my pillow?”
Lamar Odom’s testimony surrounding addiction and a near-death experience is the spotlight for Netflix’s new documentary, “Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom,” which premiered Tuesday. The doc, roughly 90 minutes long, recaps a dark moment of Odom’s life — including a time where he survived a coma, endured a dozen strokes, had six heart attacks and suffered partial kidney failure — but also focuses on a current chapter of sobriety and coping with inner demons. “It’s something I’m very proud of,” Odom told The Athletic in an exclusive interview. “As I get another day, I feel like I’m just earning stripes to be able to tell my testimony to as many people as I can. I think that’s where the healing begins.”
For a few years beginning in the late 1990s, the Portland Trail Blazers found success against opponents while a trio of their star players consistently found trouble off the court. The new Netflix docuseries episode Untold: Jail Blazers highlights how the franchise ran afoul while achieving consecutive Western Conference finals appearances in 1999 and 2000 — thanks to the antics of Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and Bonzi Wells.
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The NBA's global expansion happened decades after Chamberlain retired. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had little knowledge of Chamberlain growing up in Greece, but he has heard his name plenty en route to winning two MVPs and a title. "Whenever you look at a stat, he's always up there," Antetokounmpo said. "Not just up there, but way, way up there. You kind of ask yourself, was he like really, really that dominant?" Most of what Antetokounmpo knows about Chamberlain he learned from watching "Bill Russell: Legend," the Netflix documentary about the all-time great Boston Celtics center who was Chamberlain's primary rival. "They were going back and forth, and you saw how dominant he was and what Bill was saying. How he was trying to limit him as much as possible, but it was almost impossible," Antetokounmpo said. "Now, we are talking about Bill Russell saying that -- one of the best defenders ever to play his game. So, you understand kind of how dominant he was."
News of Elle Duncan’s possible jump to Netflix has set off a “stampede” of on-air talents angling to fill her multiple marquee roles within ESPN, sources tell Front Office Sports. Scores of on-air talents—both with experience covering women’s basketball and working as a host—are eying Duncan’s portfolio of jobs at the four letters. They include co-hosting the 6 p.m. SportsCenter with Kevin Negandhi as well as serving as women’s college basketball host for College GameDay and host of WNBA Countdown. “The resumes are flying. There’s going to be a lot of people fighting for these jobs. Burke’s phone is going to be lighting up,” says one source, referring to ESPN president of content Burke Magnus.
The sports documentary space is robust, but it ain’t easy. I’m hearing that “Starting 5” is getting benched after a two-season run on Netflix. The NBA-focused effort tracked five players over the course of the season, and even with a fortuitous ending with two of its characters reaching the seven-game NBA Finals (Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), the audience just wasn’t there to keep the show going. Kevin Durant, James Harden and Jaylen Brown were also featured in Season 2, while LeBron James, Domantas Sabonis, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum were featured in Season 1. Omaha Productions, James’ SpringHill Co. and Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground were executive producers on the show.
The fact that her team even took the court was a coaching feat in itself. She wanted to set her remaining players up to have Harris come calling with good news the next time. "Every NBA team, front office, staff member, GM, assistant GMs -- they're all there," Harding said. "Of course, there was a lot of disappointment and anger and sadness, but then there was also opportunity, too. So you can't let that take away from your opportunity." Harding and her team had unwittingly become characters in a true crime docuseries, playing out in real time. "Everyone's like, 'You're going to be on Netflix,'" Harding said. "It's tough because I remember the trip. I remember the trip. I remember everything. I remember him getting on the bus that morning ... "I still don't understand everything. I don't know if I'll ever understand."
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The 2025–26 NBA season has officially tipped off, and Netflix is diving deeper into basketball with a new project chronicling the illustrious career of Houston Rockets star forward Kevin Durant. Netflix has teamed up with OBB Pictures, the film and TV division of OBB Media, and Boardroom to create the definitive documentary series charting the NBA great’s life on and off the court: his upbringing in the Washington, DC, and Maryland area, college at the University of Texas, his immediate impact in the NBA, and his role representing the United States in the Olympics.
He was much more revealing on the new season of Netflix’s “Starting 5,” which released all eight episodes Thursday as it followed around Harden, Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton and Jaylen Brown last NBA season. In the third episode, Harden, on a trip back to Houston as his Los Angeles Clippers were playing the Rockets, revealed he has a son Jace, who was 6 years old at the time of filming. “Jace means the world,” Harden said from the home in Houston he still keeps despite being traded away in 2021. “I think everybody who has children understands the difference of love you have for someone that you created. It’s a joy. It’s, you know, your little mini-me. And, for me, just not even being selfish, but just something that you created, something that you wanna mold and be better than you is a different kind of love.”
Starting 5 is back. The Netflix sports series returns for Season 2 with eight new episodes and a fresh lineup of NBA stars, including Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton, and James Harden.
