‘Winning Time’: What to Know About Season 2 of HBO Series

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is a big hit for HBO and has been renewed for a second season. In Season 1, viewers saw the beginning of the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty in the 1980s when Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the team in 1979. From there, Buss built the Lakers to become the premiere team in the NBA, starring with selecting Magic Johnson in the draft. The question now is what will Season 2 of Winning Time bring to the table? 

Max Borenstein, Winning Time showrunner and executive producer, told Deadline that what’s so “compelling about this to me were these themes that we’re talking about and these characters, the way that they transform and the way that Pat Riley goes from being a color commentator to ultimately becoming this driven, controlling coach, one of the greats, but who as you say, burns out his own welcome in LA.” 

In the series, Riley (Adrien Brody) and head coach Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) led the Lakers to the title. But the second season could see turmoil in the coaching staff because the team lost in the first round of the playoffs the following year and Westhead is fired in his third season, which leads to Riley taking over. Riley goes on to win four titles with the Lakers in nine seasons. He steps down as the head coach following the 1989-90 season which ended the dynasty. 

“This next season is going to be, you know, taking the same pace that this first season did, roughly, to tell the next piece of the story, which involves Paul Westhead and Pat Riley, and a struggle Magic has that next year, and Jerry West’s next step in the direction of becoming the general manager,” Borenstein said. “There’s a lot of transitional stuff that starts to happen in that next season. We’re not going to jump way ahead because, for us, the best version of this is able to continue to really mine the richness, and keep operating in good faith and cross our fingers that we get to do it for a few more years so that we can finally get to all the things you’re talking about.” All 10 episodes of the first season of Winning Time can be streamed on HBO Max.