‘Winning Time’ Canceled at HBO

Despite pretty solid reviews from critics, HBO’s Winning Time has been cancelled after just two seasons. The show drew some ire from former Lakers who took issue with their portrayals on the show, like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and called the series “boring.” Jerry West, a major executive in the NBA, went so far as to demand an apology from HBO over his depiction on the show.

The series was based on the account of the classic L.A. Lakers teams Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman.

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Series co-creator Max Borenstein posted his reaction to the news on Twitter:

To make matters a bit more upsetting, the show ended on a pretty downer note. Spoiler alert for actual NBA history, but the second season of Winning Time ends with the defeat of the Lakers by the Celtics in the Finals.

The director of the show, Salli Richardson, had told The Hollywood Reporter prior to the show’s cancelation that they had been hoping to continue the story into a third season that now won’t happen…

Obviously, you see how the season ends. So we would love to have, at the very least, even though we can do this for years, one more season so that we can get the Lakers winning against the Celtics. We don’t want to end with the Celtics winning. That’s awful.

Awful or not, that’s how the TV show will apparently end. The full run of Winning Time is now available to stream on Max.