'Winning Time's' Quincy Isaiah On Playing Magic Johnson: 'Role Of A Lifetime'

Quincy Isaiah is opening up about landing the "role of a lifetime" after he was cast as a young Earvin "Magic" Johnson on HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty."

The 26-year-old actor is taking on his first major acting role in the 10-episode sports drama, which focuses on the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers squad — which included Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and head coach Pat Riley — and the dynasties that followed.

"Winning Time" will also detail Johnson's story, from his humble beginnings in Michigan to his league debut after being drafted first overall by the Lakers in 1979.

Isaiah, who is also a Michigan native, told People that being cast to portray Johnson "still doesn't feel real."

"It's one of the moments that you tell yourself that you can do, but until you actually do it, it's not real. It still doesn't feel real," he said. "I feel like 'role of a lifetime' is used loosely, but I really feel that way. I love basketball, I'm playing an icon, it's a period piece, on HBO, Adam McKay project, all these great actors. It has all the things. There's no other way around it for me."

Isaiah also explained how he thinks he got the role. "My thing was, I just got to show up and work hard," he added. "I showed up with a can-do attitude. I think they saw that, and hopefully, my acting was good enough, and that's what got me the part."

Isaiah booked the part in May 2019, and a month later, he began basketball training, shooting hoops with a coach for two hours each day.

According to the actor, he feels confident about his portrayal of Johnson in the series as he trusts the team who trained him.

"You can't hold me to being Magic, in terms of what he did on the court. Of course, I want to get it right," Isaiah said. "But at the same time, I got to trust my team. I got to trust that they're not going to put me in a position to look like I don't know what I'm doing. The directors, my writers, whatever scene it is, or whatever pass you need me to do, I got that in my arsenal."

Ahead of the series premiere, Isaiah said he was looking forward to fans learning more about the Lakers franchise and "how pivotal it was in basketball and entertainment."

However, one person who won't be tuning in to HBO's Lakers series is Johnson himself.

"I'm not looking forward to it. I'm going to leave it at that," Johnson told TMZ Sports of "Winning Time" in December 2021.

The NBA legend said he was working on his own Lakers project. "No, we got different shows coming out," he explained. "I got one, [and Lakers president] Jeanie Buss got one on Showtime coming out. Those are the ones I'm looking forward to."

In addition to Isaiah, HBO's Lakers drama also stars Solomon Hughes as Abdul-Jabbar, John C. Reilly as Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Adrien Brody as coach Riley, Sally Field as Jessie Buss, Jason Clarke as Jerry West and Gaby Hoffmann as Forum manager Claire Rothman.

"Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" premiered Sunday at 9 p.m. EST/PT on HBO and began streaming after on HBO Max.