7 months after it’s Hulu release I finally cleared time in my schedule to binge “Legacy:The True Story of the LA Lakers”. As someone who has devoured NBA historical text and media with more time on his hands during the covid period, I’m stoked for any kind of long-form media covering hoops and reflecting on the impact of the past like most fans. Going in I assumed I’d  the full history of the franchise up until at least the Lebron James signing of 2020  would be coverd and with ten 45-60 minute shows it would be full of old footage, interviews, game highlights, and mostly complete story narrating spanning several decades. Hell, Bill Russell’s 2 part Documentary series on Netflix “Bill Russell:Legend” released February 2023 shortly after his passing, clocked in around 3 hours and covered two decades of Celtics history and the cultural and political climate changes and his impact throughout his seventy years of life. Certainly the “True Story” of the Lakers could cover a great deal of ground in its 9 ½ hours of runtime. Well, the “True Story” part of the title is of less emphasis (and quite frankly, debatably by its own interviews) and the “Legacy” portion should be emphasized. Jeanie Buss was the executive producer of this project and the first episode opens with an interview from the late Jerry Buss, who passed away in 2013 from Cancer, and introduces the view to each of his… *ahew* acknowledged children from his first and perhaps lesser known second marriage. Don’t worry. Details are plentiful on all accounts throughout the series because this is both the Lakers history….AND the Buss family history….from 1979 onward, when Jerry first purchases the team. The Lakers do have plenty of history prior to 1979 and it isn’t inherently a problem that 30+ years of history are overlooked. Kareem is with the team in ’79 and referred to as an aging superstar, Jerry West is acknowledged as a former player and the Lakers/Celtics rivalry is mentioned. However, with the grandiose the doc ultimately builds it does come across as disingenuous that Minneapolis, the home of the NBL formed Lakers isn’t mentioned, nor the six previous Championships, or the success of George Mikan (5x Champ, 3x Scoring Champ, NBA Top 75 player), Elgin Baylor (11x All-Star, NBA Top 75 player, 71 points scored against the Knicks in 1960), Jerry West (“all you need to know about Jerry is that he’s the logo” and that is indeed the only historical context you receive in the doc on the former ’69 MVP, ’72, Champ, 14x All Star) , Wilt Chamberlain (did you know he was a Laker? From 68-73. You still wouldn’t after watching this. Top 10 all-time player), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (3x MVP, also was the reason dunking was banned in college basketball for 10 years in the 60s/70s because of how badly he kicked white boys asses but that’s a whole different discussion). It should have been a 5-10 segment at the least in episode 1, which focuses on the purchasing of the team and introductions to the Buss family, ’79 Magic Johnson lottery, and the team in its construction at the time.

I don’t want to give a play-by-play each episode so let’s focus on where the doc shines and suffers. Director Antoine Fuqua is known for directing popcorn action flicks like “Equalizer” and “Training Day” but got his feet damp (dare I say wet?) with “What’s My Name?” the 2019 Muhammad Ali doc that received not awesome reviews. He had a lot of material to work with here. The interview list is impressive and extensive. All the Buss kids, first and second marriage, Vanessa Bryant, Lebron James, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Snoop Dogg, Flea, Ice Cube,Larry Bird, Phil Jackson, and a huge list of former players and almost every coach still living form the past 40 years. Anyone missing is more notable than those that make an appearance (Mike Brown who was fired FIVE GAMES into the 2012 season….did not appear, but he coached the Kings to the playoffs in 2023 for their first appearance in two decades! Also, no Jack Nicholson? He’s been sitting courtside since the early 70’s). Jerry Buss apparently gave tons of interviews over the years and has them interwoven so you can get a feel for the man’s personality. We have home Buss videos and photos…wait? This is a Laker show, right, right. Early interviews and photos opened from the vault thanks to Jeanie Buss being behind the production along with the A+ interview list really flesh out the Laker teams throughout the years and provide a full prospective and feel of relationships with players, coaches, media, and ownership. The early 80’s and roster moves, relationship discussions, and impact of Magic and his polarity in the first couple episodes were fantastic. Obviously the earlier, pre-internet, full-access media is great to absorb. Much time is appropriately spent on him, his year in coaching, and returns to the court for a season. The Kobe and Shaq seasons get extensive time as well. Against the big roster moves and the thought processes behind them are discussed.  Kobe’s sexual assault case isn’t shied away from although how it is discussed can be a point of contention on a very sensitive issue that was settled in Civil Court. It feels that too much time is spent on the lost 90’s lead by Nick Van Exel and not enough time with the last few years of Kobe but perhaps that was just a director choice. Kobe’s late teams had several good players like Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Metta World Peace, Jordon Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr, and don’t seem to get as much coverage. The in-game footage and key moments are really lacking for a family that places so much impact on winning Championships to the point that we get box score montages for the results of some of the Finals covered in the doc. WTF?

The Buss family dynamic managing the Lakers has been a mess and the insight provided is probably some of the very little new information. Not always communicating with his GM’s or his children when making trades or moving them to different roles built up resentment and calluses that changed how folks around him handled team situations moving forward. Some is interesting, relevant information, but we also spend way too much time sorting through the jealously and resentment and how every move (there were many) made everyone feel, and how they think it made Jerry feel and how everyone feels now. It’s unnecessary for the Lakers story.

This show also has some weird sex themes. In episode 1 Jerry Buss discusses his “dating” life and the scrape book he keeps of all the girls photos (and possibly other things?). The Laker girls are mentioned as being great entertainment and multiple interviewees discuss drooling over them, focusing on the pointless objectifying of the dancers and not mentioning that HOW the Lakers girls turned into a respected, talented, sexy, entertainment group advocating female empowerment in the LA area that even had TV movie made about the group and featured a few standouts. Most notably, Paula Abdul. Magic’s partying wasn’t really mentioned despite the fact that it’s well publicized with his disease. We get a long piece from Jeanie about her poising for Playboy in 1995 (including censored photos) and how it allowed her express her sexuality. Plus the fun note that Jerry mentioned it was the first time in 26 years he wouldn’t read an issue. So ya, stuff that makes you cringe. There are several segments about Jeanie and how difficult her job was for her dating and personal life. All unimportant other than her Phil Jackson marriage, in which we gain insight into the relationship and how it impacted Laker dynamics.

Episode 10 has a real series finale plot twist. No, not Magic leaving the Lakers. No, not Lebron joining the Lakers. Jeanie Buss finds out that she has a long lost sister…..and we spend 12 minutes weaving her story and reunion in throughout Lebron, covid, and BLM in the final episode. I’m not saying it’s unimportant to the Buss family. I’m saying, that I must have missed that headline among all the critical events that year that should have more time in the Lakers story.

This really should have been called “Jerry Buss has a midlife crisis and his wealth fucks up his kids”. I recommended it to a friend couple of mine. He’d enjoy the basketball portions. She’d enjoy the Buss family drama. Everyone wins. Overall, this is enjoyable content for basketball fans, covering one of the premier franchises in all of sports. Jogging the memory of events you probably knew about and some new ones and adding pieces to complete the 40+ year picture of the franchise history while under Buss ownership. The behind the scenes of the family and interview access do give a more complete picture of how relationships are navigated in a professional sports landscape. Really this could be shorter. Less family time and I’m always a supporter of more important in-game highlights. Kobe’s final game is highlighted; certainly other key moments could have been nostalgic for viewers. This is still desirable viewing for any NBA or Laker fan. So put your sex scrap book down and fire it up. Just don’t be shy about fast-forwarding through chunks of episodes to avoid “he said, she said” unnecessary family drama. Or do, and settle down for a double-feature of hoops history and uncomfortable family drama dynamics. What else could you ask for?