“A Mediocre Ode to Excellence” is what Variety’s reporter Alison Herman said in her review of the ‘Starting 5’ series. Several other critics were also united in not holding this basketball Netflix series to too much acclaim. Despite that, back in October 2024, the series was renewed for Season 2. Featuring Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton, and James Harden as the season’s cast, reports speculated that the show would next cover these 5 stars’ run through the 2024-25 season. Tomorrow marks 2 months since the 2024-25 season concluded, and still, there is no release date! So, Ja Morant took it upon himself to speak as a representative of frustrated fans.

The Memphis Grizzlies star recently took to his official X and retweeted a post from another X user who highlighted a fan-made poster for ‘Starting 5’ season 2, inspired by the official poster of Season 1. That X user wrote, “NBA community needs this bad right now.” Morant reiterated that point by adding in the caption, “!! when this drop?”.

The most recent update from Netflix about Season 2 came back in late June 2025. The same featured a sneak peek from the new season, which focused on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just moments before he led OKC to their first-ever NBA Championship. Turning to the camera, SGA even said, “Yeah, Netflix. We did that.” This highlighted that the 2025 NBA Finals will be a pivotal part of the new season when it releases. Speaking of which, all Netflix said in the update was that “Season 2 drops later this year”.

The 1st season of ‘Starting 5’ featured LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, Domantas Sabonis, and Jayson Tatum as its primary cast. It featured a mix of the player’s personal and professional lives, with topics like LeBron’s disagreements with the Lakers’ coaches and Bronny James’ cardiac arrest touched upon.

Though there are reportedly more than 81.44 million Netflix users from the United States, it’s hard to know how many tuned in to Season 1 since Netflix did not disclose the viewership details. However, on IMDB, over 2,100 people have given the series a rating of 7.2 stars out of 10. With storylines like Jaylen Brown’s snub and the OKC/Pacers Finals expected by fans to be covered in the new season, it won’t be a surprise if hoops fans tune in huge numbers.

With his tweet, Ja Morant put himself among the people excited for the upcoming project. Reason? It is the only known basketball-related series in the upcoming list of Netflix projects. After all, despite what some sources are reporting, one isn’t coming yet about the Grizzlies player.

Did Ja Morant Sign a $13.5 Million Deal With Netflix?

Over the years, Netflix has placed a major emphasis on basketball-related documentaries. After the success of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls dynasty series, ‘The Last Dance’ came the Olympics-focused ‘The Redeem Team’ and ‘Court of Gold’, and even ‘Last Chance U: Basketball’, which took a dive into college basketball. However, does Netflix wish to focus on Ja Morant next?

Back in July, it was announced that the NBA star had signed a $13.5 million deal with Netflix for a 7-episode series about his journey with the Memphis Grizzlies. Details about the series were released back in May by ‘Indiana Sports 24’. It was reported that the series would be titled ‘Heart of the Hustle: Ja Morant’s Memphis Story’, and would be directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay. The docuseries would reportedly focus on everything from Morant’s dunks and franchise record to his off-court compassion and community impact. The series aims to simply showcase Morant’s resilience and love for Memphis and portray him as a transformative figure.

Unfortunately, those reports have turned out to be false. Except for ‘Indiana Sports 24’ and a few Facebook pages, no other news sources have reported on this. Neither Ava DuVernay announced an upcoming project with Ja Morant, nor did the player himself hint at something like this on his social media. Therefore, it is safe to say that the news is fake.

Regardless, like Ja Morant, hoops fans are looking forward to the second season of the ‘Starting 5’. What are your thoughts on the show? Are you looking forward to the second season? Let us know in the comments!