ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The growth of docudrama has been a growing trend in the world of sports in recent years. While the idea isn't exactly a new idea, it has become a bigger trend over the years.
While the idea isn't exactly a new idea, with of course HBO's Hard Knocks having been a thing for over a decade and there have been previous successful documentaries like Sunderland Till I Die, it has become a bigger trend over the years.
From the successes of Netflix's Drive to Survive and Quarterback docudramas over the last seasons, more leagues like the PGA, IndyCar, NASCAR, the ATP and WTA has attempted to create their own docudramas following the trend from the success of Formula One and the NFL's docudramas. Even a then-non England League side owned by two Hollywood actors even got a docudrama.
Now the NBA is following the trend too, with a St. Louis-native set to be apart of it.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania, Netflix is developing a documentary series for the NBA. The participants for the first season will be Lebron James, Domantas Sabonis, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards and St. Louis' own Jayson Tatum.
The Production companies of Lebron James, former President Barack Obama and Peyton Manning will be the ones the produce the series and according to Charania, it has already begun filming.
There has been no release date announced for the series, but based on the release dates of Quarterback and Drive to Survive, both series were released around three to five months after the season had ended, so potentially expect the series to be released sometime around August and September, since the NBA season will conclude in mid-June.
What fans can expect from the docudrama is likely behind the scenes content detailing what the player is thinking and going through both on and off the field.
Camera access for each player off the field will likely depend on the player. In previous documentaries, athletes like Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and now-Alphatauri racing Daniel Riccardo allowed cameras to get pretty good and deep access of their life outside their respective sports, while others like F1 World Champions Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton did not show any real off the track/field access.
With Tatum participation in the docudrama, fans can likely see some off the court action of the Chaminade graduate and see what the St. Louis native is like outside basketball.