Few teams in NBA history have captivated basketball fans quite as much as the Showtime Lakers. The nickname bestowed on the Los Angeles Lakers teams from 1979-91 under the direction of owner Jerry Buss, the teams were famous for winning a whole bunch of games, playing a high-flying brand of ball, and possessing gobs of star power, from head coach Pat Riley to players like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
That era of Lakers basketball will be the focus of Adam McKay’s new HBO Max series, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which is set to come to the streaming service in March of 2022. On Thursday, HBO dropped its first trailer for the series, which features John C. Reilly as Buss, Dr. Solomon Hughes as Abdul-Jabbar, Adrien Brody as Riley, Quincy Isaiah as Johnson, and more.
The series was originally titled Showtime, based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, but recently had its name changed due to the fact that Showtime is a direct competitor to HBO. It has also made headlines in recent days over its role in McKay’s friendship ending with Will Ferrell, as the latter — a well-documented Lakers fan — was originally cast to play Buss before McKay opted to give the role to Reilly.