A new show dropped on Netflix last week that every basketball fan should check out. It’s called Running Point, and it’s a sitcom about a woman named Isla Gordon who has to step up to run the family business, which just so happens to be a professional basketball team. Hilarity ensues, but the show has a lot of heart as well. Some people are comparing it to Ted Lasso. I’m personally through five episodes already and loving it.
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Gordon is played by Kate Hudson, and she’s surrounded by a dynamite cast that includes Max Greenfield as her fiance and Justin Theroux, Scott MacArthur, and Drew Tarver as her brothers.
Here’s the premise—Isla becomes the president of the Los Angeles Waves, a pro basketball team that was once owned by her father. The Waves have a history of winning but, since his passing, have fallen off their pedestal through Isla’s brothers’ mismanagement. It’s up to her to right the ship.
Sound familiar? It should, because the story is based on Jeanie Buss, president and managing owner of the Lakers. Buss is an executive producer on the show, and Isla Gordon and the Waves mirror her and the Lakers in a number of ways.
Both struggle for acceptance in a male-dominated world, and smaller storylines also ring true, like the mention of Isla posing for Playboy (something Buss did in 1995). Just as the Waves won multiple championships under the leadership of Isla’s dad, the Lakers did the same under Jeanie’s dad, Dr. Jerry Buss.
Jeanie Buss and her real-world experience of owning the Lakers are a fantastic jumping-off point for a sitcom
There are plenty of creative liberties taken in the show to differentiate it from real life, which is why it’s a scripted Netflix sitcom and not a documentary like Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers, which premiered on Hulu in 2022.
The show really is very funny, which also sets it apart from HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (which also ruled, to be clear). That show lasted two seasons and was a scripted drama based on Jeff Pearlman’s book about the 1980s Lakers.
Even though there are many differences between Gordon and Buss and the Waves and the Lakers, it’s impossible to get the real life inspirations out of your head while watching Running Point. That seems intentional, and it certainly isn’t a bad thing.
Sports figures are making their mark in Hollywood lately, whether it’s Buss with Running Point, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ much-celebrated cameo in the Taylor Sheridan drama Landman, or Travis Kelce starring in FX’s Grotesquerie and the upcoming Happy Gilmore sequel.
All 10 episodes of Running Point are available now on Netflix, and though there’s no news yet on whether its been renewed for a second season, it’s positive critical and audience reception gives us hope that we’ll be seeing more of Isla Gordon in the future.
