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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest centers to have ever played in NBA history. From his iconic hook-shot move to his sense of leadership in the locker room, Abdul-Jabbar remains a basketball icon.
However, he has recently voiced out his frustration and disapproval for how he was portrayed in the latest HBO show titled "Winning Time." The TV series looks at the dynasty of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise during the 1980's era featuring Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In a Vanity Fair article written by Savannah Walsh, the former Lakers center voiced out his problem regarding a certain scene from the show. This scene showed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar telling a kid, who was requesting an autograph, "F*** off, kid." He went on to mention that this never happened and that the show got his portrayal wrong.
"Winning Time isn't just deliberately dishonest, it's drearily dull," Abdul-Jabbar said. "I've battled leukemia, heart surgery, cancer, fire, racism -- a negative portrayal of me on a TV show has no effect on me personally."
HBO's "Winning Time" portrayal of the former Lakers big man was played by Solomon Hughes and the two individuals have not spoken to each other.
Being regarded as an all-time great basketball player has its own status implications, which places any form of re-enactments or portrayals that much more important.
Similar to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson also voices out his frustrations with the show
In an interview with Variety's Selome Hailu and Ramin Setoodeh, the former Lakers guard talked about the missed opportunity with HBO's "Winning Time."
"You can't do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers," Johnson said. "The real Lakers. You gotta have the guys."
Additionally, Johnson specifically highlighted his frustration with HBO choosing to leave any former Lakers from the creative process of the show.
"There's no way to duplicate Showtime," Johnson said. "I don't care who you get. So let's go through it like this, Showtime started on the court. Just unbelievable. We changed basketball! Fast-breaking entertainment: Every time out, Paula Abdul and them beautiful Laker Girls came out on that floor."
"Listen: we were about winning," Johnson added. "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.'"
As it stands now, both Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson are not fans of how their story is being told on television screens, wherein, it will be accessed by a wide audience leading to varying conceptions of them.
