HBO canceled Lakers: Time to win after only two seasons of the series and excellent reviews from the specialized press.
After the second season finale on Sunday, creator Max Borenstein confirmed the news on Twitter: “It’s not the ending we had in mind,” he wrote. “But nothing but gratitude and love.”
The second season of Lakers: Time to win returned to HBO and HBO Max on August 6 with a total of 629,000 viewers. That was a fall from grace, considering the 901,000 people who tuned in for Season 1’s debut in March 2022. In May of that year, Season 1 managed to rack up 1.6 million same-day viewers for the finale.
What Lakers is about: Time to win
The HBO series is based on the book by Jeff Pearlman, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. The show’s second season focused on the period immediately following the 1980 NBA Finals through 1984, culminating in the first professional rematch of the era’s biggest stars: Magic (Isaiah Quincy) and Larry Bird (Sean Patrick Small) of the Boston Celtics.
Last month, Pearlman appeared on X (ex-Twitter) to implore people to watch the second season. “I’m telling you, the future of ‘Time to Win’ is at stake,” Pearlman tweeted. “We need viewers. Strikes are devastating. Please help spread the word. Season 2 is amazing. But… HBO is big in #s,” he wrote.
Adrien Brody, John C. Reilly, Michael Chiklis and Jason Segel star in “Time to Win”, along with Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Hadley Robinson, DeVaughn Nixon, Solomon HughesTamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Molly Gordon, Joey Brooks, Delante Desouza, Jimel Atkins, Austin Aaron, McCabe Slye, Thomas Mann, Gillian Jacobs and Rob Morgan.
Executive producers are writers and co-creators Borenstein and Jim Hecht, Adam McKay, Kevin Messick, Scott Stephens, Rodney Barnes, director Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Jason Shuman.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
