In some respects, the whole exercise comes across as an extended response to “Winning Time,” seeking to reclaim the team’s narrative after that show’s exaggerated portrait of key Lakers players and personnel, which too often bordered on parody.
Still, a production already enamored with personalities at times races through the actual basketball, to the point where if you blink twice during the portion devoted to the ’80s teams, you might miss another championship.
What’s left, then, are the bits and pieces: How Buss turned the Forum, where the Lakers played, into the hottest night spot in a town of stars; the Lakers Girls and other innovations that fellow owners rushed to copy, such as Buss jacking up the price of floor seats from $10.50 to $65; and Magic Johnson’s unprecedented 25-year contract, prompting teammate Jamaal Wilkes and the rest of the squad to ask of Johnson’s close ties to the owner, “Is he one of us, or one of them?”
“Legacy” shoots a much higher percentage when the subject turns to basketball, with Julius Erving, a.k.a. Dr. J, praising Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as “the greatest of all time,” and Celtics star Larry Bird expressing a similar sense of awe, saying he had hoped his brother saw him standing on the court near the Lakers big man.
Even then, there’s as much interest, seemingly, in coach Phil Jackson’s personal relationship with Jeanie Buss. Nor could the filmmakers resist adding the obligatory Hollywood pizzazz to the proceedings, with celebrity Lakers fans Rob Lowe, Flea and Snoop Dogg among the voices receiving ample screen time.
In that sense, the question Wilkes posed regarding Johnson echoes in a slightly different way for viewers — namely, is this being made for us, or is it being made for them?
“Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers” premieres Aug. 15 on Hulu.
