Bill Simmons Offers Interesting Reason Why Celtics Villains Aren’t In Docuseries

“Celtics City” received high acclaim from Boston fans, but the HBO docuseries had some noticeable omissions.

The nine-part docuseries aims to chronicle the history of the Celtics and the franchise’s impact on the City of Boston. Multiple current and former players were interviewed for “Celtics City,” but not many iconic rivals were featured.

Hall of Famers like Isiah Thomas, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson were among those omitted. Executive producer Bill Simmons offered a seemingly simple reason Wednesday.

“What happened was the guys on the other teams, they don’t want to like the villains in the sports movie anymore,” Simmons told Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” “They figured this out.”

The Ringer founder claimed he asked Johnson to be on the docuseries, but he declined. Simmons joked that the Los Angeles Lakers legend would not have hesitated if Kimmel had asked him to be on his show.

Thomas confirmed last month that he declined to be on “Celtics City” because of his depiction in “The Last Dance.” Boston’s battles against the Detroit Pistons from 1985 to 1991 were formative years for each franchise, so it would have been interesting to hear Thomas’ perspective. It also would have been great to have Johnson speak about his rivalry with Larry Bird, even if he’s done so many times before. And of course, Barkley is always a personality you want.

However, documentaries are a form of storytelling where there will be a villain, whether intentional or not. And it seems that some NBA legends wanted to avoid any drama that might have come from appearing on “Celtics City.”