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The toxic relationship between Spencer Haywood and the Lakers was the focal point of the show's ninth episode. Given that the show is an excellent adaptation of the reality behind what happened to Lakers LA, viewers were left speechless by a reveal.
With the show coming to a close next week, viewers were left with many questions regarding the truth behind the fictionalized details, as shown in episode 9. Did the players honestly vote to suspend Haywood and deliver the bad news through one of their players? Perhaps more crucially, did Haywood decide to retaliate by attacking the entire team? Let's go into all the details.
Did The joint vote of the Lakers suspend spencer, Haywood?
After hearing rumors that he would be traded, Spencer Haywood turned to narcotics in episode 8 of Winning Time. His drug use progressed to the point where his teammates saw he has a problem, in this most recent episode. Despite Kareem Abdul's advice to quit cold turkey, Haywood's allure to hard drugs was just too empowering at the moment. It becomes a team issue when they observe Haywood in a critical condition in the hallway before the NBA finals.
Haywood wasn't present at the Lakers' team meeting. Paul Westhead instructed the players to decide whether to keep Haywood on the team for the finals or to cut him immediately. Abdul-Jabbar informs his pal that he will not be playing with his team against the 76ers after a vote. But this isn't exactly how it happened in reality.
Haywood was suspended in real life during the Lakers' 1980 playoff run, but it wasn't until after game 3 of the NBA Finals that Westhead made the decision. According to the Los Angeles Times, after several disruptions and the fact that he fell asleep during team practice, Westhead decided to suspend Haywood indefinitely. According to Haywood in a People Magazine article, the final straw for Westhead was when he got into an altercation with teammates Jim Chones and Brad Holland just after game 3.
Despite Winning Time showing Abdul-Jabbar breaking the bad news of Haywood's ban on him, the official word came from the Lakers' front office. The New York Daily News reports that Westhead, Jerry Buss, and Jerry West met with Haywood and informed him that he would not be playing for the rest of the season.
Did Spencer Haywood retaliate by trying to kill the Lakers?
After being released from the team, Spencer Haywood goes to the home of a shady man in a bandana and asks him to essentially kill the Lakers in the last minutes of episode 9. It was an exciting way to close the episode, but in reality, this is both a mix of fiction and fact.
Spencer Haywood did order a hit on Paul Westhead after he was suspended. He went on to reveal the hit in shocking detail as he referred to an article in the People's magazine he wrote,
"I left the Forum and drove off in my Rolls that night thinking one thought, that Westhead must die. In the heat of anger and the daze of coke, I phoned an old friend of mine in Detroit, a guy named Gregory, a genuine certified gangster."
However, in Winning Time, he wants the entire Los Angeles Lakers team dead, which alters the original story. This is the outcome of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar casting the deciding vote to cut Haywood; even though, in reality, Paul Westhead made a choice alone.
Don't forget to catch the finale of Winning Time on HBO Max on May 8, 2022, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
