Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West has called in his lawyers over the portrayal of him as “an out-of-control, intoxicated rage-aholic” in an HBO drama series about the team’s Showtime glory days. West is demanding both an apology and a “retraction” from HBO and the producers of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which the network has just greenlighted for a second season. West, now 83, spent 14 seasons with the Lakers as a player, before becoming team coach and then, during the period covered by the series, general manager. In a letter demanding the retraction, West’s lawyers accuse the producers, including Adam McKay, of a “baseless and malicious assault on Jerry West’s character. You reduced the legacy of an 83-year-old legend and role model to that of a vulgar and unprofessional bully—the polar opposite of the real man.”

West is not the only Lakers great who is not a fan of the show. In a Tuesday Substack post, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made it clear that he thought the HBO series wasn’t “just deliberately dishonest” but also “drearily dull.” Abdul-Jabbar was explicit that he took issue not with how he had been portrayed (by Solomon Hughes) nor with the accuracy of the show. But, calling out McKay and his team, Abdul-Jabbar wondered, “How did so many talented people go so terribly wrong?” The former Showtime-era star wrote that there is “only one immutable sin in writing: Don’t Be Boring! Winning Time commits that sin over and over.” Abdul-Jabbar also put the show, which has earned tepid reviews from critics, on blast for its “lazy writing,” criticizing its characters as “crude stick-figure representations.” This month, Lakers legend Magic Johnson also shared his thoughts on the show, criticizing its team for not reaching out to any of the Showtime-era squad. “First of all, you can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers,” he said. “The real Lakers.”