HBO Orders Adam McKay’s Showtime Lakers Drama to Series

HBO orders Adam McKay’s Showtime Lakers drama to series

After amassing an impressive cast led by Jason Clarke (Catherine the Great) and John C. Reilly (The Sisters Brothers), Adam McKay’s (Succession) Los Angeles Lakers series has been given the series order from HBO, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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The untitled series, with the pilot written by Max Borenstein (The Terror: Infamy) based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, will tell the story of the iconic basketball team during the 1980s, know as the “Showtime” era. The story will chronicle the professional and personal lives of the team, during their time of fast-breaking play and star-studded celebrity fans as they are led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson.

“Alongside Adam McKay and Max Borenstein, HBO couldn’t be more thrilled to examine one of professional sports’ most beloved empires,” Francesca Orsi, executive vp HBO Programming, said in a statement. “Across 1980s Los Angeles, we’ll experience the exhilarating ride of a team that dominated a decade of basketball, and watch them not only achieve iconic status but transform the sport in every way.”

Clarke is set to star as legendary Lakers general manager Jerry West, with Reilly starring as Jerry Buss, newcomer Quincy Isaiah as Johnson and former UC-Berkeley basketball player and Harlem Gloebtrotter Solomon Hughes as Abdul-Jabbar.

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The cast will also feature Gaby Hoffman (Transparent) as Forum general manager Claire Rothman, Hadley Robinson (Utopia) as Buss’ daughter Jeanie, DeVaughn Nixon as Lakers guard Norm Nixon (DeVaughn’s father), Molly Gordon (Booksmart) as Forum executive Linda Zafrani, Rob Morgan (Stranger Things) as Magic’s father Earvin Sr., Spencer Garrett (For All Mankind) as play-by-play Chick Hearn and Kirk Bovill (Just Mercy) as Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

The series comes as the first full series under McKay’s five-year first-look deal between his banner Hyberobject Industries and premium cabler at HBO, with McKay set to executive produce alongside Bornstein, Jason Shuman, Scott Stephens and Rodney Barnes.

(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)

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