Winning time has attracted a lot of heat from the likes of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Jerry West. But why? we take a closer look
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HBO’s Winning Time has been well received by critics, fans, and the media. It looks as though the show is loved by everyone. Except for those that are being portrayed, apparently.
Winning Time centers around the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise in the 1980s. The Showtime Lakers as they were referred to, blossomed in the 1980s and won five NBA championships.
The portrayal of the team, the staff, and the executives is what has garnered the attention of the NBA fraternity. While for the common folk, it is just the type of drama series that you want to watch, for the more well-informed and well-educated basketball fans, it isn’t.
The over-dramatization of the show is what is making waves. NBA legends and sports personalities have spoken out about how their character depiction has been inaccurate, to say the least.
Magic Johnson says the depiction is “not even close”!
Magic was one of the first to speak about the show when he spoke to Jake Hamilton about his docuseries “They Call Me Magic!”.
Jake asked about the similarities between the two shows and Magic says that both are drastically different. Winning Time comes from a third-person perspective and They Call Me Magic! is his narration.
Johnson says that the show’s characterization feels more like a work of fiction than a narration of real-life events. He adds “this is the truth, this is coming from me”, “not somebody’s thought or opinion or what they think happened!”.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says Winning time is “Deliberately Dishonest, it’s Drearily Dull!”
The Big A expressed his views in his newsletter on Substack. Kareem’s explanation about his portrayal has nothing to do with the fact that the show is fictionalized. It is to do with how bad it actually is.
In his expansive essay, he digs through how the show is boring from his perspective, a person that lived through the story. He also bashes Adam McKay’s boring writing and how he feels that there is an inherent lack of imagination.
His most notable critique is that of how each character is represented by a single bold trait.
You can read more about his thoughts on his Substack Channel, but the gist of it all is that Kareem does not find it to be good. Forget accuracy, he believes that the storytelling is awry and fails to provide depth in what is otherwise a riveting tale.
“Sure, those actions make dramatic moments, but they reek of the facile exploitation of the man rather than an exploration of character” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also said this about Jerry West’s portrayal.
Jerry West demands a retraction and an apology!
Jerry West is the latest to join this protest. He has issued a letter demanding an apology and a retraction for what West has described as a malicious attack on his character.
Jerry believes that his character portrayal is inaccurate. West’s lawyers say that the Winning Time’s depiction ”bears no real resemblance to the real man”.
The letter is lengthy and contains signatures and statements from a litany of Lakers staff and former players. While we have to wait and see what HBO responds with, it is clear that a lot of the story might be more fiction than fact.
Skip Bayless is the latest sports media personality to speak out against the show. He also supports Jerry West’s claims and was quick to add that he has stopped watching the show after finding a string of inaccuracies.
