It's Back! Incredible HBO Series Depicting 1980s' Los Angeles Lakers Tips Off 2nd Season

The Pacific-12 Conference may be subterranean, but lousy leadership will never take away the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s, or any other decade.

"Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" returns for a second season Sunday (9 p.m. EST, HBO MAX).

"It's going to be amazing," actor Brett Cullen told OutKick before the actors' strike that began May 2.

Cullen portrays the late, great, former Lakers' general manager Bill Sharman. He directed the storied franchise to five NBA championships as general manager in 1980 and '82 and as president in 1985, '87 and '88. These teams featured Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar under flamboyant and innovative owner Jerry Buss, played expertly by John C. Reilly (Boogie Nights, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Walk Hard).

Winning Time Soared In Ratings Like Lakers' Fast Break

The first season of 10 episodes ran from March 6 through May 7 of 2022 and ended with Magic and the Lakers winning the 1980 NBA title over Philadelphia. The series quickly gained momentum and television ratings, much like the patented, Magic-led Lakers' fast break of the time. After 900,000 viewers for the first episode, the show soared to an average of six million through the finale. For seven straight weeks, the series rose in the ratings.

Actor Brett Cullen portrays former Los Angeles Lakers general manager and president Bill Sharman in HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty." (Getty Images).

"I'm happy to be part of season two, and I'm excited about the prospects of the show," Cullen said.

This season focuses on the budding, hateful Lakers' rivalry with the Boston Celtics, particularly Johnson versus Boston's Larry Bird.

"It's a compilation of a couple of seasons," Cullen said. "There will be a time jump."

Cullen, 66, knows sports movies, and you know him. He has been in basically everything since the 1980s. He was in the HBO Movie "Dead Solid Perfect" (based on the hilarious Dan Jenkins book about the PGA Tour) in 1988, "The Replacements" in 2000, "Gridiron Gang" in 2006, "42" (the Jackie Robinson story) in 2013 and "The Turkey Bowl" in 2019.

Los Angeles Lakers' Story Makes Sense As Sports Movie

"I've done a lot of sports films, but this one really makes sense to me," he said. "It's kind of like it's better to do these after everyone was involved. Here's this show about the inner workings of the NBA and the inner workings of the Lakers' organization and also the entire NBA."

And not just the games. There is a lot of sex, drugs and drama as there is in the 2014 book it is based on - Jeff Pearlman's New York Times bestseller "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s."

Many with the Lakers, such as former superstar Jerry West, did not like the first season.

"I don't think any of them are real thrilled about us doing the series, to be real honest," Cullen said. "But if you're going to tell a story about anybody, whether alive or dead, people are going to say, 'Oh, it wasn't like that.' Everyone I've talked to just loved the first season."

Some have said and written that so many Lakers' people are angry about the show, because it's true.

"I just wanted to be as truthful to Bill Sharma as I possibly could be," Cullen said. "He left a big family, a lot of grandchildren. I hope they're happy with what I've done. I can only do what they give me, but you try to be true to who that man's character is."

Brett Cullen's Bill Sharman Character Loses His Voice

That includes Sharman having surgery on his throat and cannot speak for a year, which means Cullen didn't have a lot of lines to learn.

"One of the producers said, 'I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm so fascinated with the idea of how you're going to control Jerry or communicate with him without being able to speak.'"

Sharman, in truth, was one of the few who could handle West, whose angry antics depicted by Jason Clarke often took over the first season.

"There'll be a lot of table slamming and me doing the whole cut the throat thing with Jerry," Cullen said. "Like, 'Stop it, no, no.'"

HBO Series May Have Long Life

Cullen is signed up for six seasons, and there is so much more to cover after the Lakers' next few titles.

"Who knows? I might just do this season and they may go, 'Well, Bill can't talk for a year,' and dump me. I don't know. I don't think they'd do that. But I'm a producer as well, I understand it. I'm just happy to have a part in the show."

Actress/director Salli Richardson-Whitfield (The Gilded Age, Scandal) directed much of the second season after doing the last two episodes of the first season with producer/director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, The Big Short).

"I think those two episodes are such standouts," Cullen said. "She's such an amazing director. And she gets it, to the point where she had to tell the producers and the writers - 'You guys need to quit telling everyone what to do. You have this amazing cast. You have this really great script. Let me explore it, and then we'll figure out the shots.'"

There is likely much more exploring and work to be done in the HBO MAX series.

"I have a feeling," Cullen said, "it will be around for more than two years."