OK, We'll Bite. Did Spencer Haywood Really Order a Hit on the Lakers?
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below."
We're nine weeks into Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Nine! Winning Time premiered on March 6, a week after Euphoria wrapped. Do you remember what was happening in your life on March 6, a week after Euphoria wrapped? No. No you don't.
That said, aside from another show's worth of real-life drama surrounding Winning Time, we've had to conduct some truly dizzying fact-checks since early March. How about Tasty Ice, the Magic Johnson-endorsed dessert offering that never was? Or the countless beefs and scuffles shown in the series? Of course, there's the bike accident, which we're still feeling the effects of, four episodes later. So, imagine the face of yours truly, when I saw the final scene of Episode Nine, which might be the most this-needs-a-fact-check moment of the entire series.
Let's back up for a moment. I need to shout out the truly astonishing scene between actors Wood Harris and Solomon Hughes (as Spencer Haywood and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, respectively), where Cap tells Haywood that he was the final vote in a bid to kick him off the squad due to his cocaine addiction. The moment—where Haywood gives an impassioned account of the racism he faced since (literally) the day he was born—is where Winning Time truly reaches a high point, both in its writing and performance. Winning Time actually shows a man struggling from addiction, instead of lobbing cocaine use into some ritzy montage from the Forum Club. Here at Esquire, we've been fans of the series from the very beginning, though I bet Winning Time would've faced less criticism early on if it had more pared-down, Laker-to-Laker scenes like we saw in Episode Nine.
Not too long after some of Winning Time's best work of the season, the series returns to its usual antics. Haywood shows up at a man's house asking if he has guns. Why? Because he wants to kill the Lakers. First of all, let's get this out of the way—no, Spencer Haywood never ordered a hit on Showtime en masse, nor did he even threaten to do such a thing. But Winning Time didn't pull this subplot entirely out of nowhere. During the 1979-80 season, Haywood was kicked off the team, but not by his teammates. It was Paul Westhead's decision.
Years later, Haywood admitted that he hired a Detroit mobster to kill Westhead. "I left the Forum and drove off in my Rolls that night thinking one thought—that Westhead must die," Haywood told People magazine. "In the heat of anger and the daze of coke, I phoned an old friend of mine, a genuine certified gangster... We sat down and figured it out. Westhead lived in Palos Verdes, and we got his street address. We would sabotage his car, mess with his brake lining."
Thankfully, Haywood's mother dissuaded him from going through with the hit. If you have the time—and want to know that things turned out better than Winning Time would have you believe in this episode—check out this piece on Haywood from ESPN. You'll see how the man, now in the Hall of Fame, was one of the first advocates for NBA players to be paid what they were worth, as well as an early case for how successful younger players could be in the league.
You Might Also Like
