"Those Lakers started pulling strings": Channing Frye drops subtle hints on why 'Winning Time' was unexpectedly shelved after just two seasons
Channing Frye shared his thoughts on the decision of the streaming platform HBO to end the "Winning Time," a series about the LA Lakers' dynasty in the 1980s. The series will not return, as Season 2 came to an end a few days ago, with the franchise's loss to the Boston Celtics in 1984.
Frye said the following during an appearance on the "Road Trippin'" podcast with Richard Jefferson and Allie Clifton:
"Behind the scenes, those Lakers started pulling strings. Like 'Yo yo yo, that's enough, that's enough. You got two seasons, we gave you two, you shouldn't have zero, but we gave you two seasons. Now we have to either get that a** or you have to shut it down.'"
It is rumored that the main reason for the show's ending was ratings, which was not what the platform and producers were expecting in relation to the budget.
The TV show was based on a book written by Jeff Pearlman, which referred to the Lakers dynasty in the 1980s, named "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers' Dynasty of the 1980s."
"Winning Time" had created a lot of negative reactions from several team legends, who believed that there was a lot of inaccuracy in the series. So, they weren't too disappointed with the cancellation of Season 3.
Lakers legends explain why "Winning Time" didn't depict Lakers' dynasty
Byron Scott revealed that he and other legends of the franchise didn't want to talk about the show or spend time watching it, because it had little to do with what actually happened:
"Nah, I’m good. I wasn’t a big fan of the show because I know a lot of it was fabricated in certain ways just to make it more interesting for the fans, which is cool, that’s TV. That’s Hollywood. That’s what they do," Byron Scott told TMZ Sports, via Black Enterprise.
Similarly, Magic Johnson said that the show was far from reality, as the production crew created a series without the participation of players and executives who were part of this era. Magic said in an interview with Variety:
"You can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers. The real team. You gotta have the guys. Listen: we were about winning. With all that going on, it was about winning championships. How are you going to duplicate this? You can’t. You need somebody who lived through it. Not somebody’s opinion. Not somebody’s ‘I think.’ Not somebody’s ‘I saw.'
"It has to be authentic and real, and it has to be right. The way we played the game, the way we worked together as a unit… It was a show from the owner all the way down. How are you gonna do it? You can’t do it.
"So I don’t know what this stuff [‘Winning Time’] is, I haven’t watched it, I’m not gonna watch it. And all the guys said the same thing. Kareem, everybody. You can’t do it."
Similarly, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, another team legend and holder of six NBA championships, also had some negative words to say about "Winning Time." Abdul-Jabbar called the show 'boring' and 'dishonest' in an article of his at Substack, as he believed it didn't depict the actual facts.
The 17-time NBA champions created a dynasty back in the 1980s, playing in the Finals multiple times and winning five titles (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988).