The NBA and the Los Angeles Lakers franchise have not hidden their contempt for HBO’s Winning Time. The dramatization of the Showtime era Lakers has become a big hit for the network and according to Petros Papadakis, it couldn’t come at a worse time for the franchise.
On Wednesday’s edition of Petros & Money, Papadakis explained that it is a combination of jealousy and frustration that is leading so many people associated with the Lakers to despise the show. He noted that Magic Johnson is upset that more people are interested in this show than his upcoming documentary on Apple TV+. The team is unhappy for a lot of reasons according to the AM 570 afternoon host.
“It’s pissing off the Laker front office because A) they aren’t making any money off of it. That’s a huge A by the way,” Petros Papadakis said. “And then B) they don’t get to control their own story and then a little C) it’s reminding everybody how good the Lakers used to be and how just much this current cheap imitation sucks. I mean, it absolutely sucks.”
Despite beginning the season as the betting favorite, the Los Angeles Lakers will not make the playoffs in 2022. There is plenty of fingerpointing about who to blame and the team has been the butt of plenty of jokes. It has been hard to resist comparing LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis, to the team portrayed in Winning Time.
Papadakis says he has heard from friends and family members that don’t like the show either. He calls it “an amazing thing,” but acknowledges that plenty of people are upset with the way some are portrayed on the show.
He believes, for the most part, the team is upset that the nostalgia is made less sweet by the fact that success seems so far away right now for the Lakers.
“There is so much that is lamentable and Winning Time reminds us of that, right? Just how cool it used to be,” Papadakis said.
