Quincy Isaiah wants to remind everyone that some liberties were taken with the version of Earvin “Magic” Johnson that he plays in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. “This is a fictional portrayal of who he was at 20,” Isaiah, 26, says with a warm smile and Midwestern charm reminiscent of Johnson himself.
The HBO series, which is based on Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman, explores the Lakers’ transformation into a dominant franchise that won five NBA titles between 1980 and 1988 through a dazzling, uptempo brand of basketball. Johnson was the on-court maestro, becoming one of the most anomalous players in the league’s history, as well as a money-printing entrepreneur and philanthropist. Isaiah plays Johnson before the accolades, back when he was an eager rookie brimming with confidence that belies doubt about whether a kid from Lansing, Michigan could make it under the bright Los Angeles lights. It’s a feeling that Isaiah, who hails from Muskegon, Michigan, relates to.
Isaiah initially majored in business while playing football at Kalamazoo College, but he always had an interest in acting. After switching his major to theater during his junior year, he decided to go all-in and moved to Los Angeles two months after graduating in 2017. He struggled to find work as an actor before finally landing the role of Johnson in 2019. Low-angle shots and other camera tricks (“I’ll just say they used some movie magic,” he says) create the illusion that the 6’3” Isaiah is as tall as the 6’9” Johnson, but he put in a lot of work on his own to be believable during Winning Time’s many basketball sequences.
In late February, Isaiah spoke to GQ about playing a legend in his breakthrough role, the difference between football and basketball workouts, why he doesn’t have a favorite NBA team, and more.
You started out as a business major. How did you get into acting to the point that a professor encouraged you to pursue it?
It was always something I wanted to do. I saw The Miracle Worker by Hellen Keller with my mom and my granny when I was like, seven, at our local theater. And I just remember that it did something to me. There were moments here and there when I was in school where I’d want to do drama or I might take a theater class, but it wasn’t until I was in 12th grade that I was actually in a musical. Then I went to college for business, but was able to take theater classes because I went to a liberal arts school, so it worked perfectly. I started falling in love with the work, getting immersed in the characters, and it just pulled on me more than anything I’d done before. It reminded me of football because you’re able to get into a certain zone where you don’t think anymore. You practice so much that eventually, you’re just running on reaction. That’s still one of the dopest things to me about acting.
I stopped playing football my junior year of college and joined the theater program. During that year, I did a sketch comedy show for someone else’s senior thesis because we had a TV production class together. We sold out both nights, people loved it, and my theater professor saw me there and said, ‘Hey, you should really consider doing more theater.’ That’s all I needed to hear, then the program did a season which was unlike anything they’d done before which included A Raisin in the Sun, In the Heights, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That allowed me to really go there and tap into this type of material.
So you were in L.A. doing auditions for nearly two years, hearing “no” a lot. I understand that you considered joining the military. How close were you to seriously pursuing that?
The funny thing is that they don’t even say ‘no,’ you just don’t hear anything back [laughs]. Sometimes, you don’t know until you see somebody in the role on TV. But a lot of my family were in the military. It was something I never seriously thought about because my mom always pushed college. But after I got out of college and had been out here, I was like, ‘The military don’t seem like a bad idea, honestly.’ I appreciated the training and thought I might be able to get another degree, then maybe come back and continue to act. I thought maybe I needed to cook a little bit longer. I was trying to go to MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Stations] in January 2019 and was talking to a recruiter. I took a test and did well on it, but they didn’t call me back because I have pins in my hips from a sports surgery. After I told them that, they kind of lost touch with me for a while. And then after I booked the role, I don’t think they knew anything about it, but they called me like, ‘Hey, just checking in to see if you’re still interested in the military.’ I was like, ‘ Eh, I’m good’ [laughs].
Were you intimidated by the prospect of playing someone so well-known, especially in your first major role?
I mean, yeah. I am playing a legend who everybody knows and is still very much in the public sphere. But at the same time, I’m an actor. This is what I do and I feel good about that. I have a really good team built around me, so I really lean on that. Having people who have been at a certain level made it easy for me to be a student. Again, that’s what I like about acting: Just reacting off of other people and working with the people around me, because that’s how you get better.
You were a college athlete, but I imagine the basketball workout you had as a part of the audition process was grueling in a different way. I understand that Rick Fox, who played for the Lakers, was brought in to work you out. What type of drills did he have you doing?
It was a lot of dribbling and a lot of sprinting—because Showtime was a fastbreak offense, so you have to be able to run. I had to run, shoot, sprint, touch the line, then catch the ball, shoot, sprint, and touch the line. Stuff like that. And honestly, what I think he wanted to see more than anything was am I athletic enough to at least get certain things down and was I going to work hard enough to get it down if I didn’t have it. And I like to think he saw both. But coming from being a football player, I kind of knew what it was going to be, so I knew to bust my butt and make it hard for him to be like, ‘Nah.’
I’ve always enjoyed watching football players on the basketball court. Many of them are just as technically skilled, but I think you definitely know what it means when someone says: “You hoop like a football player.” A lot of their games are all athleticism.
Yup, run and play defense [laughs].
So I’m really particular about on-screen basketball and how authentic it looks. There’s a level of physical preparation that you’re naturally going to understand as an athlete, but football workouts and basketball workouts are kind of different. Also, you were an offensive lineman in college and now you have to convincingly portray the point guard for the sake of this role. What did you do to not only sharpen your game, but also portray this basketball anomaly as realistically as possible?
First things first, I had to lean out. I was still big, but I had to get lean. I’ve been playing pickup basketball my entire life, but I had a basketball coach who helped me break down everything about the way I know how to play basketball—because I played like a football player. He wanted to build me up as a basketball player first before I really started working Magic in. Also, my trainer helped me move differently. Basketball players don’t do strength training the same way football players do. You have to train your body to move laterally so you float a little bit more and there’s more finesse. So those people helped me figure out my body and how to move, which really helped create that illusion that I’m a point guard.
Once the players were cast, did you ever just play pickup games?
Our basketball coach didn’t want us to do too much pickup, but there would be some days after a basketball practice where we’d play five-on-five after getting all of the choreography down. I loved those days because I got a chance to hoop against dudes who played in college, overseas, and in the G-League.
Like Magic, you grew up in Michigan. A lot of people of a certain age know who he is from a cultural standpoint, and now as a meme and unintentionally amusing Twitter presence, but how much did you actually know about him prior to getting the role?
I knew Magic, the figure. I knew he was one of the greatest point guards of all time and I knew he was a businessman. I knew he was an HIV advocate and community leader, but I didn’t know who he was as a player. Even just looking back at clips, I would’ve said, ‘Yeah, he’s probably one of the greatest point guards of all time.’ But now I’m like, ‘Nah, he’s the GOAT point guard. Hands down.’ And they say it on all these sports shows; they don’t really argue that. It’s the way he was able to pull a team together, the style he played with as a 6’9” point guard, all of it.
You mentioned getting a feel for who he was as a player through YouTube, but what did you consume to get an understanding of him as a person?
Documentaries, but also his books. And when reading the books, thinking: ‘OK, why did he say this? Why did this person say this to him? Why is this in the book?’ Reading something once, then reading it again to try and get the subtext of who he is, because that’s what we do with scripts. You read it to learn it, but then you go back for the subtext. Then really trying to dive into his mind and understand how he got to be a legend, and what goes through your mind as you’re trying to get to that point at 20. It’s there, but it’s very raw. In one of his books, he talked about how he would sit in his boss’s chair and pretend to order people around like he was the boss—that’s a raw example of someone knowing where they want to be, but not necessarily having all of the characteristics to get there yet. And that’s the fun thing about playing him in a TV show: I get to try to build that around this foundation that I’ve set up.
Did you watch the 30 for 30 documentary The Announcement about him revealing that he was HIV-positive?
Not yet. I want to wait until we get closer to that, because right now we’re still in 1979. I would go a year or two past that [while doing research], but I tried to avoid getting there yet.
How much did you research the 1970s and 1980s, particularly the state of the NBA at that time, to learn about the climate and circumstances which produced the Showtime Lakers?
That’s one of the things Jeff Pearlman does really well in the book. He explains how the NBA was kind of falling apart at that point, and how [Larry] Bird and Magic really helped save it. How much drugs were a thing and how the league wasn’t getting ratings—people were watching bowling and golf more than the NBA. All of the things that led up to them being in the perfect position to blow up and really take over the league. Also, CNN has those documentaries about the decades. I watched some of those about the ‘60s and the ‘70s to get a feel for what America was like during that time. And then any period films—I watched Boogie Nights for the first time and John [C. Reilly] is in there [laughs].
He plays Jerry Buss and Magic is his guy in the series, so I’d imagine you had to develop a solid relationship.
I’ve seen him in a comedic light for most of my life, but one of my favorite days on set—where I was just there to watch—was seeing him and Jason Clarke [who plays Jerry West] talking about Jerry West’s NBA Finals MVP. I got to see that scene become the one that you see on TV. There were so many different variations, but they were all at such a high level that I was like, ‘Man, these dudes get busy.’ And then, just on a more personal level, him beings from Chicago—another Midwest dude. I think he even has a home in Michigan. We went to the Lakers game last night [note: the Lakers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans by 28 points that night].
As you were learning more about Magic, what surprised you the most?
You know the figure and you know about certain moments, but even in the show, there are some things you kind of have to assume. For example, his relationship with his mom. I don’t think we really know that, but to be able to use that as a storytelling device is cool. So I’m not sure if some of the things that might be surprising are necessarily true, but it’s about believing that it’s true for the sake of my character. One of my favorite scenes that I’m in is the scene where I’m playing against Cookie’s boyfriend—and that actually happened, because she talked about it in her book.
Winning Time is a dramatization, but I think the flashes of each character’s imperfections are very intriguing. With Magic, you see that million-dollar smile, but you also see a brashness that’s balanced by moments of self-doubt. Is there a particular quality that you wanted to bring out in your portrayal of him?
Yes, that insecurity, that need to do things well. I think the character that I’m playing is very far removed from the Magic Johnson who we know today, but being able to pull up on my old girlfriend’s new boyfriend and embarrass him on the court because I’m hurt is juicy. Being able to show pain through being braggadocious, that’s what wakes me up in the morning as an actor. You get to see the fullness of the character. You know he’s great on the court, but you also get to see him doubting himself. Or that moment when Norm Nixon beats him when they’re playing one-on-one in front of all those people—how do you handle that when you see yourself as the top dog? That’s where it gets interesting as an actor.
As someone who made a similar journey from Michigan to L.A., did you relate to wondering if you could make it on the biggest stage?
Bro, I won’t say the whole pilot, but that first month I was thinking: ‘…I don’t know, man.’ I’m a confident person, but there’s this imposter syndrome that creeps up here and there. But Rick Fox told me something: ‘Allow yourself to be the rookie.’ So that’s what I tried to do, so I’m OK with messing up, trying to figure things out, and enjoying the journey.
People are going to anticipate seeing the Bird-Magic rivalry, but I thought the relationship between Magic and Norm Nixon was fascinating. How did you and DeVaughn Nixon, develop that dynamic?
I got to meet Norm because DeVaughn and I are cool. He didn’t really talk too much about that, but DeVaughn and I were hanging out before we shot that scene and I’m thinking we’re cool. So we shot that scene and my pride was hurt when I left that day. He stepped over me, he sat on me…I was like, ‘I do not like this dude DeVaughn Nixon.’ He called me the next day and said, ‘Bro, I just want to tell you that that was just acting. We’re good, I love you and I appreciate you.’ But he did two things for me in that moment: One, he showed me where he could take it. That’s the job. And also, don’t take it too seriously. You have to be able to step away from it at the end of the day. But I did not like him that day [laughs]. But watching it later, I’m like, ‘You did your thing, bro. Thank you.’
I know you haven’t had the opportunity to meet Magic yet and, as I’m sure you’ve seen, he’s said he isn’t looking forward to the series. Did you feel more pressure to nail your portrayal because of that, or did you feel like it actually set you free in a sense?
Yeah, I think that’s where I was coming from. I figured if I just focused on the work, I should be alright. And honestly, I feel more free. I had the room to lean on the work and trust that if it needed to happen, they would’ve made sure that it happened.
Are there any historic basketball moments that you enjoyed filming?
The game where Magic dropped 42 points in the NBA Finals, because I got to show my full range as a basketball player. And then all of the Lakers-Celtics games, man. It’s just fun playing with Sean Small, who plays Larry Bird, because he can hoop, he can act, and he’s a great person to play off of. They even gave us a little bit of time where we just played free; they gave us the ball and let us go. That was one of the best days on set because we were just going at each other.
So do you have a team in real life?
Not for real, man. I like players, but I definitely appreciate a good team. I love how the Miami Heat play, but I also like the Bucks because I like Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. LeBron, obviously. I mess with Memphis heavy; they’re dogs. The Suns—Chris Paul is one of my favorite players of all time. Even the Pelicans. I like CJ McCollum, I want to see Brandon Ingram win, I want to see Zion [Williamson] win. That’s why I say it’s hard for me to have a team, because I like seeing good basketball and I gravitate towards certain players. I’m trying to become a Pistons fan. We’ve got Cade [Cunningham] now and we have a great history, so I need to be a Pistons fan, honestly. I am a Lions fan, though.