This teaser will have you saying, "ball is life!"
It's showtime, baby! On Dec. 9, HBO Max released the first teaser for their new series, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, premiering in March 2022. The NBA-centered drama series follows the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.
The clip starts off with Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, played by John C. Reilly, waking up one morning and deciding to buy a basketball team. "There's two things in this world that make me believe in God. It's sex and basketball," Buss says in the trailer. "I'm about to buy a team."
Buss continues, "I want to build something special, a real dynasty. But I need a partner."
And the rest, as we know, is history as the Lakers select Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) as "the first pick of the 1979 NBA draft" leading to five NBA titles for the franchise.
"With me, it's going to be exciting," Johnson says in the clip with a smile.
Imagine waking up and buying a basketball team? All we do is wake up and decide to buy Starbucks.
"Style, pizzazz...I don't know why basketball can't feel like that," Buss says to Johnson while watching a performance.
"To me Dr Buss, it do," Johnson replies.
A celebrity-filled cast joins Isaiah and Reilly, including Dr. Soloman Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Adrien Brody as coach Pat Riley, Jason Clarke as general manager Jerry West, Sally Field as Jerry's mother Jessie Buss and Jason Segel as Paul Westhead.
But the Adam McKay-executive produced series isn't all free throws and Larry O'Brien Championship Trophies. Earlier this year, in an interview with Vanity Fair, McKay revealed that the series led to a falling out between him and long-time friend, Will Ferrell.
When McKay decided not to cast the Anchorman actor as Buss, Ferrell "took it as a way deeper hurt" than McKay "ever imagined."
Watch "Magic motherf--kin' Johnson" do his thing (a.k.a win) when Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty premieres in March on HBO Max.