Newcomer ready to step into Larry Bird’s shoes on HBO's ‘Winning Time’

Last August, after HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty had already started filming, comedian Bo Burnham — slated to play Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird — dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

Soon after that, newcomer Sean Patrick Small found himself auditioning for the role. During a Zoom meeting, producers asked a series of questions:

How tall are you? 6-foot-4. Do you play basketball? I’ve played my whole life. How much do you know about Larry Bird? Well, funny you should ask…

Small — a dead ringer for the NBA great who also wore his No. 33 in high school — had been shopping around a four-part miniseries he wrote about the epic 1979 NCAA championship game between Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s college teams. It even had Thomas Carter, director of the 2005 basketball drama Coach Carter, attached.

He got the part.

“It was definitely a stars-aligning moment,” Small said, marveling at how “eight years of reading and writing and pitching about this guy” culminated in his casting. “I got the role of a lifetime because of what I’ve been doing pretty much most of my adult life.”

The hotly anticipated Winning Time, which debuts March 6 on HBO Max and is filled with off-screen controversy, is based on a 2014 book about the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers. The series, shot in a retro style, is a glitzy retelling of that era, combined with producer and director Adam McKay’s signature fourth-wall breaking narration.

“When I walked on set, it felt like you were really transported back to that time frame,” Small said. “The way that they shot it, with the graininess — that hits you with the nostalgic ‘80s feel. That’s something I’m super excited to see.”

Winning Time features a sprawling all-star cast, including John C. Reilly as Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Adrien Brody as coach Pat Riley, and fellow newcomer Quincy Isaiah, in just his second-ever credited role, as Johnson.

While Small may not be featured as prominently — after all, the series focuses on the Lakers, not the Celtics — he’s still bringing to life one of the greatest rivalries in sports, one that propelled the then-struggling NBA to new heights of popularity.

Along with that comes the responsibility of portraying a larger-than-life athlete beloved by basketball fans everywhere.

First, Small had to get the game right. While he’s been playing basketball for years, he wasn’t adept at 1980s-style basketball.

“My game is set for this modern era, and they just played differently. The rules were different in the ‘80s,” he noted. “If you dribble the way we do now it’d be a carry every time.”

Small also had to learn Bird’s unique shooting style, with his left elbow cocked high above his head. “I had to get the shot down to where it was second nature,” he said.

As to his portrayal of Bird, Small said the Winning Time writers had done their research and captured Bird’s essence. Still, since he also has a wealth of Larry Bird knowledge, they would check in with him on set, asking questions like, “How do you think Larry would do this?”

Small knows there’s a certain pressure in depicting a real-life figure. Like Isaiah did with Johnson, he opted not to reach out to the man he’d be playing, especially because he knows Bird tends to shy away from the spotlight off the court.

But one thing he hopes he got right? Bird’s legendary penchant for trash talk.

“He is definitely a trash talker, and you’ll have to tune in to see if you think we’re doing justice,” Small said with a laugh.

—Pauline Vu