With Academy Award-winning writer and director Adam McKay filming a pilot for HBO about the “Showtime” era Los Angeles Lakers, actor Jason Clarke has been cast as legendary guard turned NBA executive Jerry West.
Based on Jeff Pearlman's book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,” McKay, known for his irreverent comedies and sharp satires about powerful people, will direct a new show looking at the cast and characters that made up those infamous '80s Lakers teams.
Led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers won five NBA championships in the decade, frequently matching up with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics along with Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers.
The decade proved crucial in the sustained success and recapturing of basketball magic across the country for the NBA. Following the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, hoops fans were leaving the sport in droves for football and baseball. It took the now-classic rivalry of Bird and Magic to revitalize the sport and give people something to talk about when investing in the stakes of the NBA.
West, despite retiring from his playing days in 1974, became a huge part of the behind-the-scenes success of the Pat Riley-coached Lakers. After coaching a few years at the end of the '70s for LA, West became the Lakers' GM in 1982. “The Logo” spent 14 years playing for the Lakers, becoming a 14-time All-Star, scoring champion, winning the Lakers a title with Wilt Chamberlain in 1972, and becoming the first — and only — player to win a Finals MVP award while on the losing side in 1969.
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