The story is so good, so rich, that Hollywood couldn’t resist. The Lakers, a golden brand. The stars on the basketball court. The celebrities on the sidelines. The spotlight on the show flying up and down the floor 24 seconds at a time. HBO made a series.

In 1979, the late Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers for the tidy sum of $67.5 million. That price tag included the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and The Forum, where the Lakers played their home games, in Inglewood. That season the Lakers ...