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'Winning Time' Episode 7: Was former Lakers legend Elgin Baylor looked at as Paul Westhead's replacement?

The show deviates from the original source material and shows Baylor as a head coach candidate, although he was considered for an assistant coach gig

'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' Episode 7 gave the audience a cameo from former Los Angeles Lakers legend Elgin Baylor (played by Orlando Jones). The storyline was Jerry West (Jason Clark) hoping to get Baylor to replace a flailing Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) who had taken the reins after Jack McKinney's accident that put him out of commission.

West sees Baylor as a potential replacement and even ensures that he gets a shot, only for Pat Riley (Adrien Brody) to find out from the potential candidate himself ahead of the side's game against the Boston Celtics. That said, it does appear the HBO sports drama threw in some fictional work in the episode as it deviates from 'Showtime,' Jeff Pearlman's book on which the show is based.

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Was Elgin Baylor one of the candidates to replace Paul Westhead?

More than a week after McKinney's accident, Lakers owner Dr Jerry Buss finally allowed interim coach Paul Westhead to have an assistant of his choice — a retired journeyman called Pat Riley. It wasn't an easy decision by the way as Pearlman writes in his book, "Buss hemmed and hawed when Westhead initially put forth the idea. The former Laker player, who had averaged 7.4 points over a ten-year career, was performing quite capably as Chick Hearn's on-air broadcasting sidekick. Furthermore, as far as coaching material went, Riley impressed no one."

The book also stated that Buss was pushing for Baylor who coached the New Orleans Jazz as an Assistant to start with and then led that side from the bench in 1974. However, the team’s poor performances led to his axing after the 1978-79 season. In the show, West pushes for Baylor after he sees and gets disgruntled by Westhead's approach. With the team winning against the Celtics, the idea was seemingly dropped and the former Lakers star joined the Los Angeles Clippers and served as their Vice President of Basketball Operations starting from 1986 and held the role for 22 years. He passed away in 2021.

'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO.