Report: Bo Burnham to play Larry Bird in HBO’s 1980s Lakers series

HBO is producing a series that will cover the fast times and winning ways of the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s.

Actor Bo Burnham has been cast to play the part of Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Larry Bird, the Lakers’ biggest personal rival during that era.

“Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade) has been tapped to play Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird in Adam McKay’s Los Angeles Lakers HBO drama series, based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, Deadline has learned,” wrote Nellie Andreeva of Deadline.com. “HBO declined comment.

“Written by Max Borenstein, the fast-break series chronicles the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined its era both on and off the court.”

The Lakers of the 1980s were a dynastic team that helped rescue the NBA from its dark days of the late 1970s. They won five NBA championships during the era and grew into arguably the greatest team in league history by mid-decade.

The Showtime motif of the era once and forever defined the Purple and Gold and its mystique, both on and off the court.

The Lakers’ rivalry with the Celtics already existed prior to that era, but it reached new heights when the two teams faced off for the NBA championship three times in the mid-‘80s.

It was around then that the NBA went from a league in financial trouble to the big-time league it’s been ever since.