“Winning Time” is a television show portraying the Los Angeles Lakers back in the 1980s. The show has seen some good reviews, but many of those involved are not fans – including the players being portrayed in the series.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sounded off in a blog post on April 19 about how the show is “boring” and “lazy” and is painting a bad picture of the players of that era.
“How did so many talented people go so terribly wrong,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote.
The former Lakers legend continued to take jabs at the show, including the physical representation of the players.
“The characters are crude stick-figure representations that resemble real people the way Lego Hans Solo resembles Harrison Ford,” Abdul Jabbar wrote. “Each character is reduced to a single bold trait as if the writers were afraid anything more complex would tax the viewers’ comprehension. Jerry Buss is Egomaniac Entrepreneur, Jerry West is Crazed Coach, Magic Johnson is Sexual Simpleton, I’m Pompous Prick.”
One thing critics have pointed out is how Jerry West is portrayed in the series, and West himself recently demanded a retraction and apology over his portrayal.
“[Jerry] has openly discussed his struggle with mental health, especially depression,” Abdul-Jabbar says. “Instead of exploring his issues with compassion as a way to better understand the man, they turn him into a Wile E. Coyote cartoon to be laughed at. He never broke golf clubs, he didn’t throw his trophy through the window. Sure, those actions make dramatic moments, but they reek of facile exploitation of the man rather than exploration of character.”
To end his blog post, Abdul-Jabbar encouraged people to support Magic Johnson’s new documentary “They Call Me Magic,” which is a 10-part series featuring the Lakers that airs on April 22, 2022.
Johnson has also given his take on “Winning Time” in an interview with Variety on April 7 saying “First of all, you can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers. The real Lakers. You gotta have the guys. There’s no way to duplicate … I don’t care who you get.”
