From co-creators Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht, and with a pilot directed by executive producer Adam McKay, the 10-episode HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty follows the intertwining professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers. What became one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties started with a vision set in motion when Dr. Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) took over and reinvigorated the franchise, bringing together the flashy characters and the unsung heroes that forever changed the NBA and what the fans grew to expect from basketball.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Jason Clarke (who plays Jerry West, a former player who became the Lakers’ head coach before stepping into the role of general manager), Adrien Brody (who plays Pat Riley, another former Lakers player who eventually became the head coach of the Showtime era) and Solomon Hughes (who plays basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) talked about figuring out Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on and off the court, how intensely Jerry West cared, how revealing this point in Pat Riley’s life is, getting to be a part of the basketball scenes, and working with such a tremendous cast and crew.

Collider: I tremendously enjoyed this. I’m not typically a huge sports-watching person, but I am an L.A. native, which heightens the interest for me. Solomon, as someone who is playing probably one of the most famous basketball players of all time and always will be, what was the key for you in playing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? What made you feel like you really got him? Was it the clothes? Was it the mannerisms? Was it something you learned about him? What pulled it all together for you?

SOLOMON HUGHES: I was blessed with a tremendous cast and crew. Just the way that everything was set up, from the costumes to the hair and makeup, it made the transition to being on camera just that much the less harrowing. But also, I’ve admired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since I was a child. His autobiography was one of the first I read, growing up. To have watched someone for so long, and Kareem has been pretty generous, in terms of how much he’s shared about his life and how much he’s written, and there’s a wonderful documentary on HBO, Minority of One, which I highly recommend, it was not playing a mountain of a man, it was playing a mountain range of a man. I really just tried to consume as much content as possible, and still, with regards to what comes out about his life.

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Image via HBO Max

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Even with all that preparation, were you still nervous walking onto the set, every day?

HUGHES: It was equal parts terrifying and rewarding, absolutely. But I was surrounded by wonderful people and wonderful castmates. It was as empowering a community as I’ve ever been a part of.

Jason, one of the things that was so interesting about Jerry West is how he’s really the opposite of Kareem, who always seems so zen about everything. What’s it like to play someone who’s always so angry, all the time? Is it freeing to act that way, or is it exhausting to play someone who is that level of angry?

JASON CLARKE: It was better, on a physical level, to spread it out on a series like this, so that, every single day, I didn’t have to go and throw it down. It wasn’t so much being angry as it was just that Jerry cared so much. He just really cared. He cared so much that he went in and resigned because he didn’t think he was the right guy, even though the season was about to start. I loved it. When you’re there with John C. Reilly and you’re there with Adrien Brody, you’ve gotta throw it down. When you’re with actors that have achieved things and done things, there’s a comfortability because there is no wrong. There are just levels and moments, and there’s play. You get that time for yourself, which is you and the other actor. That’s what I truly love about it. That’s where you find your energy, whether it be up or down, or whatever. Adrien is there and you’re just feeding off each other, and then bang, all of a sudden, it’s wrapped and you’ve given it all. Jerry just cared. He cared a lot. He wrote a biography examining himself, and it’s a very brutal look at himself, where he’s trying to understand why he’s the way he was. Kareem and Jerry were very similar. They’re perfectionists, in their way. Kareem was accused, on Airplane!, of not trying hard enough and, if he’d just try harder, he’d have a better career. There are just different ways of coming at it. They’re all such different people. Pat Riley was a good player. He wasn’t in the league of Jerry West or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he went on to have even more drive when he found his thing as a coach. They really are some of the greatest characters I think we’ll all ever play. They’re fascinating.

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Image via HBO Max

Adrien, Pat Riley is so interesting at this point that we meet him because he’s considered one of the best coaches of all time, but he’s at a pretty low point in the series. What did you find most interesting about that time in his life and what did you enjoy about getting to play him from such a low point?

ADRIEN BRODY: It’s very revealing. We all know where Pat has ended up and he triumphs tremendously. He spent many years guiding a bunch of the top players in the world and he led a lot of victories. His enthusiasm and his understanding of the game and teamwork is really profound. So, to see him at a valley in his life, when he’s in transition, where he was a successful ball player, he had a ring, and he devoted his life to the game and the sport, which was everything to him, to find himself outside of that and not knowing necessarily how to get back in, and to have it have that meaning and for him to have that meaning within the sport, it’s a really precarious position. It’s a really vulnerable space to start, and humbling. We’ve all been there. If the show has legs, we can get a glimpse of seeing the more polished up and refined Pat Riley that we’ve all come to know and love. I think that’s really an exciting road ahead. The storytelling is so great. I’m just really grateful to be a part of it.

Solomon, I love that we get to see Kareem on and off the court. Which was more challenging to inhabit for you? Was it more challenging to learn the man that he was in his personal life, or to learn his style on the court?

HUGHES: Oh, man, they were both giant tasks. His sky hook is one of the most graceful, unstoppable moves in the history of basketball and the reason that he is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the game. I love LeBron [James] and I love Steph Curry, but they’re incorporating three-pointers into their two-pointers. Kareem primarily shot two-pointers, so to have a record like that, it’s the Mount Everest of records, especially for someone who’s only shooting two pointers. It was equally challenging. Like I said earlier, it was one part terrifying, one part rewarding.

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Image via HBO Max

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Jason and Adrien, what was it like to be a part of the basketball scenes? You guys aren’t actually in the game on the court, but every aspect of those moments seems just really exciting to have been a part of. What was that like to shoot?

CLARKE: It really was exciting. We had these two rollerbladers shooting a lot of the action on the court. They were like Torvill and Dean ice skaters. The grip and the cameraman were powering each other, and pivoting and turning and lifting up and putting down. I remember one day there were 12 cameras up. I’ve never seen that before. HBO put together what this world is, and it’s on a scale which is enormous, but so intimate. It’s crazy. You see everyone’s journey. And hanging out with the basketball guys, they’re just so different to me and where I grew up and the world I know, and just listening to them talk, and their views and their humor, I loved it. I just loved hanging out with the guys and listening to them just rain on each other. It was so funny. It was just a great bunch of guys. We’d all get together and we’re all very, very different, but it’s the wonderful part of the circus that we all live in, where you go, “Man, there’s a lot of cost with this business, but there’s also a lot of love and a lot of joy.”

BRODY: I was in awe, to be honest. There was so much talent out there and so much hard work and dedication that went into it. With Solomon and Quincy [Isaiah], and all these guys, not only do they have the responsibility of honoring the men that they portray, they have to learn a playing style, and the sky hook, for example, is such a difficult shot. To even carry the physicality and the responsibility of that is an enormous task to do well, let alone to land those shots on a complicated camera move when they’re calling, “Action!,” and there’s a bunch of spectators, and everyone is standing around and expecting you to make that shot. It’s an enormous challenge. Jason Segel and I would just basically be in awe. We got to really enjoy a lot of that. It’s fun to root for them too. I have a great deal of affection for all of these guys and I was rooting for them to prevail. I could infuse that genuine enthusiasm in my portrayal of the man who’s also rooting for them, and that was really fun.

Winning Time airs on Sunday nights on HBO.