Even with Insecure meeting its emotional end—oh, you really thought Team Lawrence was gonna take the L with a championship on the line?—it’s a pivotal time for Black television. FX’s Atlanta is plotting its comeback, Peacock’s Bel-Air is primed for world domination, and if you’re a sports head, HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty looks to be pure, unadulterated hellfire.
But while Lakers fans are foaming at the mouth to revisit the franchise’s hallowed Showtime era—especially since the team’s current incarnation looks closer to a dilapidated junkyard than a fleet of luxury vehicles—count five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson among those who aren’t particularly enthused by the announcement of HBO’s new series.
And that’s not even me being a Laker hater—which I actually take tremendous pride in, as evidenced by my recurring $199 annual membership. This came from the franchise’s former president of basketball operations himself.
“I’m not looking forward to it. I’ll leave it at that,” Johnson told TMZ before explaining his reasoning. “We got different shows coming out. I got one, then [Lakers owner and team president] Jeanie Buss got one on Showtime coming out. Those are the ones I’m looking forward to.”
So basically everyone is making either a film or TV series about how great the Lakers were once upon a time because they’re so trash today? Makes sense to me.
For those of you who actually give a shit about Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, it’s based on Jeff Pearlman’s book, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, and is set to premiere in March. (HBO, you already know where to send those screeners. Thanks in advance for your compliance.) And if you’re one of those unfortunate souls who have yet to see the trailer for the upcoming series that Magic Johnson apparently wants no parts of, feel free to do so below.