'Winning Time' Producers Max Borenstein and Rodney Barnes on Raising the Stakes in Season 2 (Exclusive)

The first season of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty showed the start of the Los Angeles Lakers' memorable run during the 1980s. Now that Season 2 of the HBO series is about to premiere, viewers will see the challenges the Lakers faced to remain on top of the NBA world. PopCulture.com spoke to Winning Time executive producers Max Borenstein and Rodney Barnes, who revealed what fans will see in Season 2. 

"This is the season where the question is, can you become a dynasty? Can you take that winning year and turn it into something truly epic and legendary?" Borenstein, who is also the co-creator, writer and showrunner, exclusively told PopCulture. "The thing that excites us about this season is it's where the stakes really get raised. With victory, they get all the challenges of success, celebrity, and infighting, and personal challenges on and off the floor, and at the same time, what they're seeking is exponentially harder than just winning one. It's to rise to that level of being a dynasty, of being legendary. To do that, the Lakers have to face their rivals, the Celtics, and this is the season where that first clash will happen."

One of the things that stood out with the Lakers dynasty in the 1980s is the rivalry the team had with the Boston Celtics. Season 2 will take a deep dive into both teams as they had their share of battles in the regular season and playoffs. Barnes, who is also a writer on the series, enjoyed digging into both teams because of how unique the players and coaches are. 

"Talking about the rivalry between these two great institutions, you get into the character stuff, and anytime you're dealing with character and you're going deeper and more layered into story, you always have to try to pull out the real essence of who these players were, and that's always a challenge, but it's a great challenge," Barnes said. "I think one of the virtues of season two as well is you get into the characters of Boston and Los Angeles, and the differences between the two. Boston has its own history, problematic in some ways. ... But it's intriguing to be able to look at history through a particular lens and see as much as the game itself, how human beings factor into the fan base, the players themselves, how all of that factors into the storytelling and makes it a challenge but a great one."

The Lakers-Celtics rivalry was led by two legendary figures — Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Quincy Johnson plays Johnson, and Sean Patrick Small portrays Bird, and their performances have been key to the show's success. 

"It's been incredible because the two of them, first of all, the show couldn't exist without Quincy," Borenstein said. "Finding him and someone who could really embody Magic Johnson in the way that, as Rodney said, we're trying to tell the stories of these legends as human beings and get inside their heads, and he's such a fine actor and he can also bring that charisma that we all know Magic had because Magic lived in the spotlight."

He continued, "Sean just brings it every day. One of the exciting things was knowing that we wanted to dive into Larry Bird and start to peel back layers of his personality and his backstory in a way that I think will surprise a lot of the audience and makes you realize that far from just being Magic's rival, he is every bit as complex and fascinating a human being who had his own incredible challenges to overcome, and it becomes complicated as to who you want to root for."

And as for the episodes of Season 2, Barnes said the premiere is the one that stands out the most. "I think it's so much about you get everything that I think stands out about the show," he said. "You get family, you get basketball, you get the team itself, you get the individuals within the team concept, you get everything. I think that's one of the great things about the show is it can be so many different things narratively and thematically that you can't beat it storytelling-wise. It's not just about sports. There's so many sports theme shows that focus on the game itself, and here we get to get into the culture of sports, the culture of culture in so many different aspects of life that it's a joy to be able to be a part of."

Winning Time Season 2 premieres on Sunday, Aug. 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and Max. New episodes will air every Sunday, and the second season will feature seven episodes.