Why Jayson Tatum Partook In Netflix’s ‘Starting 5’ NBA Docuseries

Before the Boston Celtics embarked on their championship run, months ago, Netflix reached out to five of the NBA’s brightest stars including Jayson Tatum, to put together its season-long docuseries.

Tatum spoke with series co-star LeBron James beforehand, and an offer for the 26-year-old to stand pat and return for the second season was extended. But Tatum didn’t want to wait and instead elected to hop aboard for the inaugural season midway through a pressure-filled year for the Celtics, to express his assured level of confidence that Boston wouldn’t finish off its campaign with another playoff heartbreak.

“I remember I watched ‘Quarterback’ (an NFL docuseries by Netflix),” Tatum told reporters during Thursday’s practice, per NBC Sports Boston. “When they came to me with the idea, at the time they said LeBron was in it and honestly he was like, ‘Yo, you could wait until Season 2, and obviously you could maybe be the star of Season 2.’ I was like, ‘No, I want to be a part of the first one.’ And I was like, ‘I think we’re gonna win a championship.’ And we did.”

The timing couldn’t favor Tatum and the Celtics anymore perfectly. Boston dusted off its hands with everyone throughout the regular season by finishing with an NBA-high 64 wins. Tatum, at the forefront with Jaylen Brown, paved the way to keep the train on its tracks once the playoffs came around as the Celtics went 16-3 en route to capturing Banner 18. The team didn’t lose more than twice consecutively — including in the postseason — which made for a chef-kiss ending to the documentary for Tatum.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I skipped to episode 10 last night (featuring Boston’s title-clinching win over Dallas),” Tatum mentioned, per NBC Sports Boston. “I just wanted to see what that was like. I was like emotional in a good way, reliving those moments of accomplishing a lifelong dream and all the behind-the-scenes stuff. That made me really joyful last night to watch that on TV.”

With a record-large contract extension ($315 million), new avenues for motivating fuel overflowing the tank and a clean slate to do it all over again, Tatum and the Celtics are well-positioned to give Netflix a reason to roll its cameras this upcoming season.