The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t given fans a lot to look forward to as of late on the court, but there are some off-court projects that have many buzzing for their debut. Chief among them is the HBO dramatic series ‘Winning Time’ set to begin in March, which will follow the makings of the Showtime dynasty in the 1980s with John C. Reilly starring as Dr. Jerry Buss and Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson.
The ‘Showtime’ Lakers are one of the greatest dynasties in the history of the NBA with Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leading the team to five championships in the decade. This dramatic series is highly-anticipated amongst most, but apparently, Magic Johnson himself is not one of them.
Johnson was interviewed by TMZ Sports and noted that he is focused on his own upcoming show as well as another one focused on Lakers owner Jeanie Buss:
“No, we got different shows coming out,” Magic tells us. “I got one, then you got Jeanie Buss got one on Showtime coming out.”
“Those are the ones I’m looking forward to.”
For Magic to be focused on his own show and one about Jeanie, whom he considers his sister, makes a lot of sense and doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t like the upcoming HBO series. Magic is someone who is always busy with different projects to think about so he won’t have the time for every single thing that pops up.
But Magic would continue on and make it pretty clear about how he feels about the ‘Winning Time’ series:
But Magic seems very adamant he’s not thrilled about the release of the HBO project … saying, “I’m not looking forward to it. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Exactly why Magic is not excited about the series is unclear. One possibility could be that Magic doesn’t care for how he is portrayed in the series. The stories of Johnson during that time are well known and with this being a fictional dramatic series, it is likely that some stories will be exaggerated for the sake of entertainment and possibly paint him in a negative light.
Whatever the case may be, Johnson has made it clear that he won’t be among those tuning in when the show debuts.
Netflix releasing workplace comedy involving Lakers owner Jeanie Buss
As Magic Johnson noted, ‘Winning Time’ is not the only media project in the works surrounding the Lakers. In addition to a nine-part docuseries detailing 40 years of the Lakers, Netflix is also working on a 10-episode comedy series inspired by the Lakers.
Owner Jeanie Buss is involved in the series which will follow a fictional female owner of the Lakers dealing with both NBA and family drama.
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