Season 2 of “Starting 5” debuted Thursday on Netflix, with the docuseries following NBA stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant, Tyrese Haliburton and James Harden through the 2024-25 NBA season.
Reactions to the latest set of eight episodes are already circulating on social media, and much of the dialogue centers on Durant and Harden’s transparency on the past.
Here are some of the most interesting moments from this look inside the lives of some of the biggest names in the league:
Durant, Harden discuss Thunder-Rockets trade
Fresh off an NBA Finals appearance in 2012 with their young core of Durant, Harden and Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder rocked the NBA world by trading Harden to the Houston Rockets. It’s been almost 13 years since the then-reigning Sixth Man of the Year was dealt, but the lasting impact of the trade has not been lost on Durant or Harden.
The two former OKC teammates reflected on the situation in the first episode of Season 2.
“I was in a great space,” Harden told Durant. “Mindset was different. I’m coming in next year, (thinking) championship for sure in Oklahoma City. But it was over. It was one of those sad stories for real.”
Durant was caught off guard by the trade. “I didn’t know what was going on until right at the end,” he said. “I didn’t know they were even negotiating.
“Me, James and Russ were just coming off the Finals, Olympics, so I wasn’t really thinking about contracts or none of that. So when they started talking about it at training camp, I was like, ‘oh s—.’ I never thought there was a possibility he was leaving.”
Harden said he and the Thunder were only separated by a “couple million dollars” in their negotiations. At the time, the young star was entering his fourth NBA season and looking forward to helping Oklahoma City get over the hump.
“Overall, I was mad as hell, too,” Harden said. “‘Cause I got the call, and it’s like, then there was loss. These are my dawgs, like you see what we did these last three years? It was like, ‘We’re going to win a championship this year.’ … I was hurt. I was sad for real.”
Durant recalled being angered by the messages on social media from other NBA stars congratulating Harden on the move to Houston.
“They were just happy we weren’t together no more,” Durant said. “I know ‘Bron and them were so f—— happy we weren’t together no more. … Shut the f— up. Y’all was just f—— scared. Y’all knew we was on the way.”
The first five minutes of Starting 5 Season 2? Absolute CINEMA 🍿
Premiering on Netflix in 10 HOURS. pic.twitter.com/FWv797eBRl
— Netflix (@netflix) October 15, 2025
The ups and downs of Tyrese Haliburton’s season
Haliburton led Indiana to its first NBA Finals since 2000, but last season wasn’t all smooth sailing. The Pacers began the year 16-18, and their star guard struggled to find consistency. Haliburton shot 44 percent from the field during the first two months of the season, with concerns about his future mounting after a hamstring injury limited him in the 2024 postseason, and he received little playing time at the Paris Olympics.
“I honestly don’t think I’ve ever felt as negative about myself as I did in November and December,” Haliburton said. “Yeah, I was definitely in a dark time.”
He added, “It got to the point where I was like, ‘Should I kind of step away from the group? Would that be more beneficial?”
Haliburton’s season began to turn around after a chat with his trainer, Drew Hanlen, and he went on to lead Indiana’s remarkable run to the NBA Finals. In the series, Haliburton also addressed the bitter ending to the Pacers’ Cinderella story — the ruptured Achilles’ tendon he sustained early in Game 7 against Oklahoma City.
“I knew what it was,” Haliburton said.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had been defending Haliburton on the play, described the moment when he realized what had occurred. “I turn around to look to see who’s on the floor,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I was like, ‘Oh s—, no way.’ And then I saw him screaming.”
Durant still questions Harden’s Nets departure
In January 2021, the Brooklyn Nets acquired Harden from the Houston Rockets, adding him to a roster that already featured Durant and Kyrie Irving. But the All-Star trio didn’t even last two full seasons, and the group fell far short of its championship goals. Harden did not make a formal trade request, but reports that he wanted to be dealt became public in February 2022, and the guard was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Ask him about that s—, about why he left Brooklyn like that,” Durant told the Netflix crew. “Hopefully since he’s on the Netflix special, he’s going to be a little more real than he would be doing a press conference about it.”
As it turned out, Harden had little say in the series about his departure from Brooklyn. “It was like, COVID,” Harden said. “(I) never was fully healthy in Brooklyn, so I was like, I wasn’t myself. It was a lot.”
The sour ending with the Nets hasn’t affected the bond between the two veterans, though. Durant revealed that they have remained close throughout their careers.
“That’s my real brother,” Durant said. “We really hang out, since we were 19, 20 years old. I was a freshman in college, and I was in L.A. Me and Greg Oden had went to Roscoe’s one night. James just pulled up on us. I think that’s the start of it right there. I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s one of us.’”