Could Jerry West successfully sue Winning Time for defamation even with its "This series is a dramatization" disclaimer?

The Hollywood Reporter

Every episode of HBO's Showtime Lakers series features the following disclaimer: “This series is a dramatization of certain facts and events. Some of the names have been changed and some of the events and characters have been fictionalized, modified or composited for dramatic purposes.” So can West, who has accused Winning Time of defaming his character, successfully sue over his depiction? Netflix's The Queen's Gambit had a similar disclaimer, yet that didn't stop Georgian chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili's lawsuit accusing the show of defaming her. Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, the defamation attorney who represents Gaprindashvili, says John C. McGinley's Jerry Buss breaking the fourth wall to speak positively about West -- “Jerry West, Head Coach of the Lakers, considered a true gentleman of the sport to everyone who does not know him" -- could be interpreted as the show depicting the real Lakers icon. “That would be a massive hurdle for the producers to overcome,” says Rufus-Isaacs. “When the screenwriter is being deposed, he’s going to have a very hard time denying that he meant for the audience to believe that he’s showing the real Jerry West. That’s a very good fact for West’s side and very bad for the producers.”

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