Sky hooks, no-look passes, an epic comb-over: The casting magic of HBO's 'Winning Time' Lakers

HBO literally required magic when casting its raucous new series, "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty."

Magic, as in finding the actors who could actually pull off portraying living Los Angeles Laker legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. and 7-foot-2 iconic center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, along with other teammates like Norm Nixon (played by his son DeVaughn Nixon).

"Winning Time" reveals the Showtime-era Lakers which kick off their go-go style with Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) buying the team in 1979 and cycling through head coaches: Jerry West (Jason Clarke), Jack McKinney (Tracy Letts) and Pat Riley (Adrien Brody).

Not only are the lives of the basketball deities revealed, but also their iconic playing styles in the 10-episode series, created without the approval of the NBA or former players. "Winning Time" is based on Jeff Pearlman's no-holds-barred account of the Lakers' five-championship run, "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s."

Speaking at the "Winning Time" Los Angeles premiere Wednesday, executive producer Adam McKay called casting for the hyperrealistic series "one of the greatest challenges I have ever encountered. How do you cast Magic Johnson? How do you cast Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?" the Oscar-winning writer-director ("The Big Short") asked.

As "Winning Time" tips off Sunday (9 EST/PST), here's what was required to land the series' biggest players:

More: Review: HBO's 'Winning Time' captures the go-go vibe of Magic Johnson's Lakers

Quincy Isaiah went from Baby Shaq to 'Magic' Johnson

Growing up, Isaiah had a nickname when he played pickup basketball games with friends in Magic Johnson's home state of Michigan: "Baby Shaq," after ’90s Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal. "That's who I was always told I looked like," Isaiah says.

Despite the likeness, the 6-foot-3 Isaiah, 25, focused on football throughout his college career before pursuing acting. He had only one small role when he sent in a self-audition tape for the role of the 6-foot-9 point guard that led to an immediate power audition.

"He had the Magic charisma, he had that smile," says executive producer and writer Max Borenstein. "But could he play ball?"

The producers sent Isaiah into a training tryout with show consultant and former Laker Rick Fox to check out his skills. "There was a lot of dribbling, passing, and so much running," says Isaiah. "He was trying to make me throw up, which I didn't do."

He passed the test. And even after earning the role, Isaiah retooled his game with intense training sessions to ball like Johnson. COVID-19 filming delays gave him more time to polish his skills, even learning to dribble off his fingertips like Magic. He was able to bring a return to Johnson's court days in "Winning Time."

"There's one over-the-shoulder pass where I'm doing the face, with the big eyes, all of it," says Isaiah. "They really got it. It matches what (Johnson) was like on the court. That was so cool to see."

Solomon Hughes had the hook into capturing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Hughes knows hook shots. The 6-foot-11 center specialized in the jump hook during his four years of college basketball with the Golden Bears of the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a lean, highly-proficient scorer from 1998 to 2002. But Hughes, 42, had to learn Lakers center Abdul-Jabbar's patented sky hook to fully recreate the NBA six-time MVP's game.

"I had a head start. They are similar shots: uncoiling, extending and shooting over an opponent. But the jump hook is from two feet," says Hughes, who has played for the Harlem Globetrotters. "And I benefitted from YouTube, where there's even an hourlong video of him just shooting different sky hooks. I studied game footage to capture the grace and elegance."

Hughes was his own toughest critic, recording and analyzing his daily blacktop workouts, "a couple hundred shots with the right, and then with the left."

Not surprisingly he nailed the shot for "Winning Time." More surprising is that Hughes, who has a doctorate in higher education from the University of Georgia, captures Abdul-Jabbar's gravitas in his first acting performance. With a wig and the trademark eyewear to portray Abdul-Jabbar's look, even Hughes was impressed with the likeness.

"Especially when the goggles came on, I was like, 'Wow,' " says Hughes. "My daughter FaceTimed me when I was in costume and thought someone had stolen my phone."

John C. Reilly used his own hair to recreate Jerry Buss' 'do

There were off-court troubles casting the central Buss role. McKay told Vanity Fair of the rift that deepened after he passed over his longtime friend and collaborator Will Ferrell to play the complicated, franchise-changing, party-loving Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

"The truth is, the way the show was always going to be done, it’s hyperrealistic," McKay said. "And Ferrell just doesn’t look like Jerry Buss, and he’s not that vibe of a Jerry Buss... It was a bit of a hard discussion."

Michael Shannon was cast but departed for "creative reasons" in 2019. That late exit gave Reilly a mere seven days to prepare.

"The weekend we sent him the script, he read it right away and his only reaction was 'Why the hell wasn't I the first call, I'm perfect for this,' " says Borenstein. "And he is perfect as Buss, it's the role of a lifetime for him."

Reilly, 56, innately related to the now-revered team owner, whom many didn't take seriously. (Buss died in 2013, and the team is now run by his daughter, Jeanie, whom Hadley Robinson portrays in the series.)

"It's the point of view of someone who's been underestimated. I have been underestimated at points in my life, and Jerry definitely was," says Reilly. "But he has that willpower, that drive to succeed, that refusal to hear naysayers. It's like, we'll do this if it kills me."

After the pilot episode, which required a wig, Reilly used the pandemic to grow his own hair to recreate Buss' prodigious combover, a hairspray-intensive process detailed in the third episode.

"The most impressive thing is, apparently Jerry used to do his own hair every day. A similar technique where it was long on the back and he'd brush it up, hairspray it and then lay it down perfectly with this last little curl on the side," says Reilly. "That's one of my favorite scenes with the monologue where I'm telling people, 'Look, you can either choose to accept reality and setbacks of your life. Or you can just decide, 'I'm gonna fashion a different reality.' "

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Winning Time': HBO Lakers series needed magic casting Johnson, Kareem