Entertainment Sports Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Criticizes HBO's 'Deliberately Dishonest' L.A. Lakers Series' Winning Time' Former Los Angeles Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a lengthy blog post critiquing HBO's miniseries Winning Time By Jason Hahn Jason Hahn Jason Hahn is a former Human Interest and Sports Reporter for PEOPLE. He started at PEOPLE's Los Angeles Bureau as a writer and reporter in 2017 and interviewed the likes of Kobe Bryant, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Brady. He has a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University. He previously worked for Complex Magazine in New York City. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 19, 2022 03:53PM EDT Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing for the Lakers. Photo: Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty There's at least one person from the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers who isn't a fan of HBO's new miniseries about the team — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The 75-year-old NBA Hall of Famer published a lengthy post to his Substack Tuesday that revealed his criticism of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which follows what happened after Magic Johnson joined forces with him four decades ago in L.A. While Abdul-Jabbar lists a number of complaints about the show, he says his main issue is that it commits the "sin of being boring." "There is only one immutable sin in writing: Don't Be Boring! Winning Time commits that sin over and over," wrote Abdul-Jabbar, who won five of his six NBA championships with the Lakers. "The characters are crude stick-figure representations that resemble real people the way Lego [Han] Solo resembles Harrison Ford," he continued. "Each character is reduced to a single bold trait as if the writers were afraid anything more complex would tax the viewers' comprehension." Representatives from HBO did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. Jeff Pearlman, who wrote the book the Winning Time series is based on, defended the show on Twitter last week by reminding critics that "it's NOT a documentary." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's New Film Reveals Hidden Stories of Black Soldiers in the Revolutionary War Like Johnson himself, Abdul-Jabbar said that he initially had no interest in watching the series because he lived through the events himself, but he felt compelled to tune in after hearing about how some of his former teammates were depicted. One of the most egregious criticisms about the show is the storyline centered around NBA great Jerry West (play in the series by Jason Clarke), which sportswriter Bob Ryan called "unflattering," "unrealistic" and "embarrassing." Abdul-Jabbar appeared to agree with Ryan's sentiments. "It's a shame the way they treat Jerry West, who has openly discussed his struggle with mental health, especially depression," Abdul-Jabbar wrote in his blog post. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Celebrates His 75th Birthday with Jeff Goldblum in New Jurassic World Dominion Spot "Instead of exploring his issues with compassion as a way to better understand the man, they turn him into a Wile E. Coyote cartoon to be laughed at," he continued. "He never broke golf clubs, he didn't throw his trophy through the window. Sure, those actions make dramatic moments, but they reek of facile exploitation of the man rather than exploration of character." RELATED VIDEO: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Highlights Movements That Shaped America in Documentary Fight the Power Finally, Abdul-Jabbar said the show did not capture what he thinks is the true story of the "Showtime" Lakers: how a group of young men came together, despite their personal issues, to become one of the best NBA teams ever. "Yeah, there's an amazing, compelling, culturally insightful story in there," he wrote. "Winning Time just ain't that story." Read Abdul-Jabbar's entire post on Substack.