Based on Jeff Pearlman's book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s", the series focuses on the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, telling the professional and personal lives of the players, as well as the extraordinary people who helped define an era on and off the court. During the "Showtime" period, the Lakers dominated the NBA, won five championships, and were one of the most revered and dominant dynasties in the sports world. "Showtime" was once used as the title of the series to represent the "showtime era" of the Lakers. However, due to the name overlap with the American cable TV station Showtime, and the station is a competitor of HBO, the series gave up using the book title to avoid confusion.