Is the HBO Lakers series Winning Time a slam dunk?

The Showtime Lakers have been thrust back into the spotlight thanks to Season 2 of HBO's sports drama series, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which dropped earlier this month.

Based on a book called Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman, the dramatization tells the story of how the Lakers became the Showtime Lakers — an era in the franchise's history when the team played a run-and-gun style of basketball, led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Sports culture critic Morgan Campbell and comedian/podcaster Ashley Ray join guest host Amil Niazi to talk about what they love about the series — and why the real-life figures featured in it might not be fans.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Amil: For those who are less familiar with the Lakers' legacy, what's the significance of the time period that we're talking about in Winning Time?

Morgan: There's a segment of the audience that thinks of the Lakers' glory years as Phil Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. But if you're a little bit older, you remember kind of the tail end of the Showtime Lakers. These are the group of people that really put the Lakers on the map — so that's Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Riley as the coach. And where Winning Time starts out is the season that Magic arrives. I think what most people don't remember is that the Lakers were struggling on the court and financially before this crew of people arrived to propel them into the national spotlight.

WATCH | Season 1 Recap of Winning Time :