Still the reigning NBA champions for a few more weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers are far from a joke in the basketball world these days. But the team will be the focus of what a former The Office alum hopes will be the next great workplace comedy on Netflix.
There are already a few Lakers-based series in the works, but Friday brought news that Netflix is bringing in Mindy Kaling and Lakers owner Jeanie Buss to executive produce a series about the ins and outs of the Lakers organization. As Deadline detailed, Netflix announced a series not about LeBron James and the action on the court, but about a fictional female governor navigating the difficulties of running a professional sports franchise.
In a competitive situation, Netflix has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order to a half-hour workplace comedy inspired by the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers. The project hails from Mindy Kaling, former star/executive producer of one of the all-time great workplace comedy series, The Office; Modern Family alumna Elaine Ko; Lakers’ President and Governor Jeanie Buss and Warner Bros. TV.
Written by Ko, the untitled series is inspired by the personal and professional dynamic between the family owners and front office team that together run one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports: the Los Angeles Lakers. The workplace comedy follows fictional team governor Eliza Reed as she navigates NBA ownership and family drama with her best friend by her side.
Ko writing the untitled series is a great start given her background in Modern Family. And it will certainly stand out among the other Lakers-based projects in the works. It’s actually the third Lakers project currently in the works, starting with an Adam McKay-ran drama about the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s. Earlier this year, Hulu also got its own nine-part docuseries about the Lakers under former owner Jerry Buss. That’s a whole lot of Lakers content coming, but the Netflix series is likely to be the funniest. And with Kaling involved in the project, there will be a high bar to reach when it comes to workplace comedies.
[via Deadline]