‘Winning Time’ star Quincy Isaiah on how his journey as an actor mirrored his experience playing Magic Johnson [Exclusive Video Interview]

Growing up in Michigan, Quincy Isaiah harbored dreams of becoming a pro basketball star. But despite showing prowess as an athlete – he played football for Kalamazoo College – Isaiah’s life went in a different direction. He became a theater major in his junior year of college and moved to Los Angeles with the hopes of becoming an actor shortly after graduating in 2017. It wasn’t easy. Two years of auditions left Isaiah considering the military as a career option, but then his professional interests and childhood passion crossed paths: He was cast as future NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson in “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.”

Playing Magic as a rookie in the league, Isaiah says, mirrored his experience on the HBO hit. “I felt myself slipping in understanding that I’m a rookie being asked to do a lot on this show, with people that are great as [Lakers center and NBA hall of famer] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was at basketball,” he tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. “So it’s just about understanding my role in drawing on those parallels. I was really tapping into those because as Magic the character grew, I felt like Quincy the actor growing as well.”

Focused on the 1979-1980 Lakers season, which culminated in the team’s first championship of the 1980s en route to five total titles, “Winning Time” tracks the rise of the Lakers during the Showtime era of play – both on the court and off. The cast includes John C. Reilly as Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Adrien Brody as future Lakers coach Pat Riley, and Jason Clarke as Lakers great and front office executive Jerry West. Isaiah says he relished getting to share the screen with such heavyweight stars, particularly in a scene with Clarke where West is pushing Magic to admit he wants to win.

“That was one of my favorite scenes. Just because I don’t get to act alongside Jason Clarke too often, where it’s just us,” he says of the scene, which closed out the show’s eighth episode. Like their characters, Isaiah says Clarke was pressing him harder and harder to find the honesty of the scene. “He’s like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ … I’m just screaming. And you know, you find a happy medium between this huge [outburst] and this low end. That’s what you end up seeing on the screen: him pushing me but also me trying to control that.”

“Winning Time” has met with some resistance from the Lakers franchise – including from West and Abdul-Jabbar. But Isaiah says the show has gotten good feedback for the way it portrays the camaraderie of the team. Spencer Haywood, who played on the ‘79-’80 Lakers before getting booted from the squad amid substance abuse issues, even passed along his stamp of approval, Isaiah says.

“I think our writers just do a really good job of putting this world together,” Isaiah adds. “We have a lot of people who are good at executing what they dream up. I’m just thankful to be on the show.”

Isaiah and his castmates are already in the middle of training for Season 2, which will inevitably deal with the Lakers’ hangover after winning the 1980 NBA title. The ‘80-’81 season was a struggle for the team, and particularly Magic, who was injured for a good chunk of the regular season. 

“I think we’re gonna get to see a different side of Magic and a different side of the team,” Isaiah says of what fans can expect. “I think a lot of the first season was establishing who these people are, prior to the knowledge of who we know them to be today…. Season 2, now that we know what’s happening, we just get to hit the ground running. I’m excited… You’ve got to get better, you don’t stay the same. You either get worse or get better. I think we are looking forward to getting better.”

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