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You are, of course, allowed to roll your eyes at the prospect of reading yet another profile of a celebrity NBA fan. And especially a celebrity New York Knicks fan. In contrast, I will now fanboy my socks off because Edie freaking Falco is on the phone. The four-time Emmy Award-winning actress — the fierce co-star of the seminal HBO series “The Sopranos” with the late, great James Gandolfini, and who went on to more acclaim as the star of the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” — is, like many fellow Gothamites, in total thrall these days.
Through 2025-26, LeBron has played eight seasons with the Lakers. Within our sample going back to 1983-84, we actually have three other distinct eight-season eras of Lakers basketball: the Showtime era (1984-1991), the Kobe/Shaq era (1997-2004) and the Kobe/Pau era (2007-2014), reflecting the years both stars played together — or in Magic’s case, the years leading up to his initial retirement in 1991 due to contracting HIV. For each of those eight-year periods, we can run a similar audit for the Lakers’ performance above/below expectations in the regular season and playoffs, and compare with LeBron’s L.A. tenure. Here is where we begin to see why the Lakers’ LeBron era feels a bit less successful and satisfying than it appears to be on paper. In terms of playoff appearances added above expected, the King James Lakers actually outperformed any of their predecessors. But they fell well short in the departments of Finals appearances and Finals victories versus expected, sitting a full ring below the Shaq/Kobe era and 2.3 Finals appearances short of the Showtime era.
The Lakers aren't far from being a championship-caliber team, but they may need to make a couple of significant changes this offseason in order to get to that level. Byron Scott, a former star for them during the Showtime era, feels one of those changes has to be telling James to hit the road. “You getting paid $50 million,” Scott said. “You’re 41, 42, 43 years old, right? You got a three-headed monster like you’re talking about. The Lakers, if you want to move on and be a championship team for the next five, six, seven years, you got to build around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves. You can’t do that if he’s still here. He’s $50 million. That comes off the cap. You can go get two really good basketball players. And young basketball players that can come in there and help.”
James Worthy: Celebrating Byron’s birthday w our Showtime teammates 💜💛 @official_bscott @ShowtimeCooper @bgoodvlade @MagicJohnson @kaj33 #JamaalWilkes #GaryVitti
Celebrating Byron’s birthday w our Showtime teammates 💜💛@official_bscott @ShowtimeCooper @bgoodvlade @MagicJohnson @kaj33 #JamaalWilkes #GaryVitti pic.twitter.com/lmJXpPCUoT
— James Worthy (@JamesWorthy42) March 29, 2026
Ramona Shelburne: The Pat Riley statue unveiling here in LA is all kinds of 1980s Showtime swag. But apparently the real place to be was the private party last night in which a certain four-letter diva showed up.
The Pat Riley statue unveiling here in LA is all kinds of 1980s Showtime swag. But apparently the real place to be was the private party last night in which a certain four-letter diva showed up. pic.twitter.com/RLS7IH5L7b
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 22, 2026
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Q. How much was Magic freelancing the key to success of that team, the Showtime? Byron Scott: I think every opportunity that he got to kind of go off script of things that were supposed to be playing because of the way that opponents played us, it was probably 75 percent of the time. As great a coach as Pat Riley was, Magic, I still say to this day the greatest point guard I've ever seen.
The company’s verticals include basketball, NFL and one Barnes is most proud of -- boxing. “Brian was able to take that IP and wrestle that away and bring that from Showtime to All The Smoke,” said Barnes. “The possibilities in the boxing space are endless.”
Matt Barnes: "Kobe says, 'Anyone crazy enough to mess with me is crazy enough to play with me. Do you want to be a Laker?' I was at UCLA when Shaq and Kobe were winning championships. I grew up in Northern California, but Showtime was my team, so I'm like, absolutely. Three days after that call, I’m in L.A., and I signed the contract. Kobe was like that. He went and got Ron Artest the year before because Ron tried to choke him in the playoffs. Then he came and got me because I almost threw the ball in his face. Kobe said, 'I don’t want to mess with you guys anymore. I want you to mess with me.' That was Kobe—competitive, smart, and always one step ahead."
Michael Cooper: "The biggest win was in 1980 because we were just playing basketball. We were playing the Philadelphia 76ers, and that team... Jerry Buss had bought the Lakers, and he wanted us to entertain the entertainers. And so what it was, was all about Showtime. So when we were playing Showtime, not once did we talk about winning a championship through that season. The fifth game of that championship season against the Sixers, Kareem twisted his ankle. We’re going to Philadelphia to play without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and that was the first time that I really realized what basketball meant because we were all scared. And all of a sudden, Magic gets on the plane and he goes, 'You know what? What are y’all sad about? Have no fear, Magic Johnson’s here.' And we went to Philly, and we won. And that was the biggest win because that set off a chain, or that taste, of what championship basketball was about."
Redick, 40, already looks the part, with his black, coiffed hair and put-together appearance drawing comparisons within the organization to former "Showtime" coach Pat Riley. And he sounds the part, too. As a clear and confident communicator, Redick navigates the interview with ease until the newly minted coach is asked a simple yet essential question: Why did you take this job? "Um," Redick, after pausing a beat, responds. "That's probably the best question."
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Doncic’s most recent criticism came from former Lakers player and current radio broadcaster Michael Cooper. He praised Doncic’s ability to score the ball, but had some interesting critiques of both his physical stature and his game, via his Showtime podcast: “Luka [Dončić] gives you that triple-double almost about every night, but he’s too slow for me. If he wasn’t a scorer, I would cut him. I give him credit for that, but to me, he’s lazy. Doesn’t hustle back on defense.”
West acknowledged the heat faced for making the trade, but was confident everyone would be “eating their words in a few years.” “He said, ‘... Let me tell you something. We are going to win more championships with you than we would have ever won with Norm,’” Scott recalled. Scott went on to win three championships with the Lakers during the ‘80s, his sweet shooting stroke a big part of Showtime. “When I left his office that day, all I could think was, ‘I’m never going to let this man down,’” Scott said. “This man believed in me when nobody else did. And it’s true. “So, like I told people for years. I got two dads — my dad and my basketball dad. Jerry is my basketball dad. So, it was a tough day this morning.”
Rambis, of course would relent, he’d join the Lakers and change his entire life by becoming a beloved member of Showtime and a NBA lifer. Following West’s death Tuesday at 86, Rambis remembered the iconic former Lakers star and executive. “His drive, his competitiveness, his obsession with winning, I mean, you felt that,” Rambis told The Times. “You felt that kind of good competitive pressure that he put on himself and the osmosis, in a lot of ways, of how he carried himself and things that he said. And, you know, the anxiety that he went through watching games and how relieved he was when you won, all of that culminated in helping the Lakers develop this competitive winning culture.”