HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

HBO's 'Winning Time': Who is Solomon Hughes? Meet Pro hooper who plays Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Hughes, a professor by day and a former pro hooper put in the hard yards, not just to be Abdul-Jabbar, but to also play like the icon

'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynatsy' features an impressive ensemble cast and the story of Solomon Hughes is one that piques massive interest. The 43-year-old plays Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the HBO sports drama and after a successful basketball career during college and later playing pro ball in Mexico and US, he thought he was done with the sport only to return and play one of the more iconic players to have played ball. 

In an in-depth interview with SF Gate, Hughes spoke about how he walked away from basketball. “If I’m being honest, I liked basketball, but I wasn’t really in love with it,” he told the media outlet. "So when I walked away from it, I walked away from it." The drama is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book 'Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty' of the 1980s is a dramedy that puts the spotlight on Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson.

RELATED ARTICLES

'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty': 5 things about HBO sports drama

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar defends George Floyd protests, says it's the reaction of 'people pushed to the edge

Who is Solomon Hughes, the actor who plays Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

Dr Hughes is a professor in sociology. The actor, during his interview with SF Gate, explained that he was passionate about acting and was exposed to it since his early days. He is a relative of Ether Ayler ('The Cosby Show'). "It’s a space I’ve always been intrigued by, especially because of the impact it’s had on me personally,” Hughes said. "I’ve worked in education for a number of years and I’ve taken lots of classes, but when I think about the most profound lessons, I feel like they’ve come from theater performances, or watching a movie or watching TV."

He landed a scholarship to play basketball at Cal State Fullerton and later went on to acquire his Ph.D. at UCLA, He also taught at Stanford's Graduate School of Education with topics ranging from race, athletics and reaching heights in college. The site added that he was an ardent Lakers fan and also of Abdul-Jabbar, the very player he would go on to portray. Talking about the research for the role, he said, "I tell people it was like writing a research paper, and I don’t know I’ve ever had more fun gathering the data for it."

The actor said he got in touch with Abdul-Jabbar's former teammates to better understand the icon he would plat and also met up with Jazz musicians — Wynton Marsalis being one of them as the player had an inclination towards the genre. He also opined that the love for the sport was rekindled. "I have to say, I’m enjoying it much more as a 40-year-old than I did as a 20-year-old."

'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' premieres on March 6 at 9 pm ET on HBO.