Author Jeff Pearlman reveals the "insane" process of having his L.A. Lakers dynasty book adapted as HBO's Winning Time from Adam McKay

Jeff Pearlman's Journalism Yang Yang

Pearlman, author of numerous sports books, has had books optioned before. "Every other option opportunity resulted in me being paid anywhere between $0.00 and $2,000—generally closer to $0.00," he writes. "The pathetic stories are endless, and not even all that entertaining." But one day four years ago he got a call to take a meeting at Adam McKay's house about his book on the Showtime Lakers. Pearlman had no idea who McKay was, so he read his Wikipedia profile outside the megaproducer's house. "HOLY F*CK!" writes Pearlman. "This was Adam McKay? THIS guy? Damn. I’d seen, oh, a half dozen of his projects. Probably more. So I straightened out my four remaining follicles of hair, buttoned my shirt and—.... knocked on McKay’s door. The meeting probably lasted, oh, a half hour. He could not have been cooler, and was a legit NBA fan who knew everything there was to know about my book and the 1980s Lakers dynasty." Pearlman adds: I can’t quite explain how insane this has been, but I’ll try. First, I get paid good money. Not retire-to-a-yacht money, but money that’ll help with my kids’ college educations. Second, they’re turning my book into an HBO series. MY! BOOK! I would say it’s the stuff of dreams, but I never dreamed up such a thing. I’ve been to set multiple times, and....I could not be happier with the casting, the directing, the direction, the attention to detail. Early on, for example, someone from wardrobe called to ask if I knew the material that was used on the 1979 Lakers’ summer league uniforms. It’s that hyper-focused."