Basketball Wives LA Season 5 cast photos with Tasha Marbury

Fans of the Basketball Wives LA have been deprived of their roundball hot mama drama for a year, but the revamped cast returns to VH1 Monday, August 19 minus four former cast members and plus one new addition. The franchises blockbuster roster shake up saw veterans Jennifer Williams, Royce Reed, Kenya Bell and Keisha Nichols let go and upcoming rookie phenom Tasha Marbury (wife of Stephon Marbury) added to a much leaner starting five that includes reality diva all-stars Evelyn Lozada, Shaunie O’Neal, Tami Roman and Suzie Ketcham.

VH1 has just released the Basketball Wives Season 5 promo photos with the new lineup. Above (from left to right) we have Suzie Ketcham, Evelyn Lozada, Shaunie O’Neal, Tami Roman and Tasha Marbury.

Damn! Tasha is TALL y’all! Here’s her individual promo shot for Season 5:

Basketball Wives star (and Executive Producer) Shaunie O’Neal spoke with Chris Witherspoon of TheGrio.com (clip below) about the upcoming season and what fans can expect. “It was crazy. Let’s be honest, it was crazy,” O’Neal says of the show’s first four seasons. She then reveals that the ladies tone down the drama and show a little maturity in Season 5.

“You’ll see a lot of growth. Just filming this season I felt the growth,” O’Neal said . “Sometimes I’d look at the ladies and be like ‘I’m so proud of you. You handled that so well.’ This is like a mirror. We’ve been able to look at ourselves for four seasons, and now going into the fifth, it’s like ‘I gotta do better.’”

O’Neal (photo above) adds that the cast’s antics have an impact on her personal life and that motivated her to do what she could to show more maturity on screen. “I’m a mom of two girls. And my daughters see me… I never want to show them anything that I wouldn’t want them to represent as a black woman. I can’t control what everyone else does, I can’t control anybody else’s behavior, but I can control mine.”

Here’s the official press release from VH1 announcing the Basketball Wives LA Season 5 premiere date as well as the remaining official Basketball Wives LA cast photos, starting with Evelyn Lozada looking stunning as usual, this time packed tightly in a mosaic disco ball mini-dress:

“Basketball Wives” Season 5 – Premieres Monday, August 19 @10PM ET/PT

VH1’s window into the world of women romantically linked to professional basketball players returns for a fifth season. This time around, “Basketball Wives” double dribbles both excitement and surprises, beginning with Evelyn Lozada’s first attempts at extinguishing the media flames surrounding the altercation with her now ex-husband. Back this season with their own passions and ambitions are Tami Roman, Suzie Ketcham and Shaunie O’Neal. New to the scene this season is Evelyn’s friend Tasha Marbury whose scandalous marriage of seventeen years to Stephon Marbury of the Beijing Ducks has the rest of the girls whispering. Season five also witnesses the return of a notorious wife from seasons past, a confrontation with a woman whose alleged relationship with a player puts one of the wives in an uncomfortable position, and another unforgettable turmoil-filled girls’ trip to London. “Basketball Wives” Season five is set to premiere August 19 at 10PM ET/PT.

Tami Roman:

Suzie Ketcham:

TheGrio.com interview with Shaunie O’Neal about Basketball Wives LA Season 5:

Photos: Beatrice Neumann for VH1