Lakers News: Magic Johnson Claims He Never Watched “Winning Time”
Five-time Los Angeles Lakers champion point guard Magic Johnson, who was also a 12-time All-Star and three-time league MVP, knows a thing or two about winning, as one of the three Hall of Famers central to LA's 1980s-era Showtime run.
But apparently, he doesn't know much about "Winning Time," the recently-canceled HBO dramatization of Johnson's exploits during that halcyon basketball era. Quincy Isaiah, a 6'3" fellow Michigander lookalike, portrayed Johnson on the series.
While attending the Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS, Johnson spoke with Chris Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter about the show's early conclusion.
“Well, I never watched it because nobody in this world can tell the Lakers story [like it needed to be told]. The Showtime story? Nobody! Dr. Buss was way ahead of his time as an owner. Our team? Unbelievable! The Laker girls with Paula Abdul? Unbelievable! Nobody can tell that story,” Johnson said.
All of those elements, to be clear, were depicted on the show. Maybe he actually hasn't seen it, as he claims, but this writer for one is skeptical.
In fairness, Johnson's story has been litigated plenty already. The tale of the Showtime Lakers has been recounted in countless prior nonfiction capacities, from books and memoirs (including Jeff Pearlman's "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s," upon which "Winning Time" was based) to several documentaries in which Johnson himself participated, most recently a pair of series in 2022: the 10-part Hulu show "Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers," centered on LA from the time the Buss family purchased the franchise in 1979 through the team's most recent title run in 2020; and the Johnson-produced Apple TV+ three-episode miniseries "They Call Me Magic."
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