A famous Los Angeles basketball franchise that’s struggling to stay on top of its game has a new president — and she’s shaking things up.
No, it’s not the Lakers or team president and owner Jeannie Buss.
But both were inspirations for the new Netflix comedy “Running Point,” which follows Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) after his brother taps her to take over the family business as president of the Los Angeles Waves.
While the show, which debuts Thursday, is a fictional depiction of the flashy NBA franchise, its similarities to reality are intentional.
Buss, who has been part of six NBA championships with the Lakers, is the reason the show came to fruition. The revered sports executive, along with the Lakers’ executive director of special projects, Lisa Rambis, actually pitched the premise to showrunner Mindy Kaling.
The two suggested a project about a “very crazy life being two women running this pro basketball team … it really took off from there,” said Ike Barinholz, who co-created the show with Kaling, David Stassen and Elaine Ko.
The result? A 10-episode workplace comedy centered on the popular sport.
The cast includes Justin Theroux as Isla’s brother Cam Gordon, who took over the Waveswhen their father died; Drew Tarver as Isla’s half-brother, Sandy, who handles all the team’s finances; and Scott MacArthur as Isla’s brother Ness, a former basketball player who is now the team’s general manager.
Buss and Rambis are also executive producers.
Stassan wants to be clear that “Running Point” is not the most accurate show ever made about the sport. Far from it.
Though he and Barinholtz consider themselves die-hard NBA fans, particularly of the Chicago Bulls, “we did not make every writer (on staff) pass an NBA knowledge trivia test,” he said.
“We really were excited to have the opportunity to create our own little mini alternate NBA universe, and we wanted to do that because we wanted to add the freedom to present characters that are deeply flawed without having to worry about upsetting actual players,” Barinholtz added. “I think subtextually, you’ll see what you want to see, but I think we really wanted to just kind of build a world where there are some things that have happened in real life.”
He estimates 80% of the show is based around the family business, while 20% is on the court. (Some of it could also be in court — Pepperdine University, in nearby Malibu, has sued Netflix for copyright infringement, noting the fictional team’s presence in the Los Angeles market and pointing out that its sports teams are also called the Waves and wear the same uniform colors.)
Kaling, herself a huge Lakers fan, recently told Netflix’s official fan site, Tudum, that she loves “writing shows about ambitious women, whether they’re a 15-year-old girl in the Valley [‘Never Have I Ever’] or the president of a basketball team.”
“We wanted to ensure that audiences could see themselves in the characters’ struggles and triumphs,” she said.
Aside from the many similarities to Buss, “Running Point” hits on a variety of storylines that have occurred throughout the years in the NBA. This includes Isla having to do damage control when the team’s star acts up off the court, and dealing with an overbearing parent of a player.
“We pulled from a love of the NBA and basketball in general, rather than just specifically ‘everything is an exact replacement of the Lakers,’” Stassan said.
A major topic is whether or not Hudson’s Isla character should trade the team’s leading scorer. The storyline was reminiscent of what happened this month when Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Dončić was dealt to the Lakers in a mind-boggling move.
Of course, that real-life trade happened long after season one of “Running Point” had wrapped.
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