HBO defends Winning Time after Jerry West condemnation: It's "based on extensive factual research"

The Hollywood Reporter

One week after the Los Angeles Lakers legend demanded a retraction and apology, HBO released a statement firing back at West. “HBO has a long history of producing compelling content drawn from actual facts and events that are fictionalized in part for dramatic purposes," HBO said in its statement. "Winning Time is not a documentary and has not been presented as such. However, the series and its depictions are based on extensive factual research and reliable sourcing, and HBO stands resolutely behind our talented creators and cast who have brought a dramatization of this epic chapter in basketball history to the screen.”

ALSO:

• Jerry West says he'll take the Winning Time case to the Supreme Court, if he sues: “The series made us all (the Lakers) look like cartoon characters,” West said in his first comments on Winning Time, in an interview with former Los Angeles Times sports editor Bill Dwyre. “They belittled something good. If I have to, I will take this all the way to the Supreme Court.”