In Netflix’s basketball comedy Running Point, Kate Hudson stars as an ambitious yet overlooked Los Angeles executive who’s unexpectedly named president of her family’s franchise.
The former party girl must prove to her brothers, the board and die-hard fans that she has what it takes to make it in the male-dominated world of sports.
Hudson’s character, Isla Gordon, shares many similarities with the real-life owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Buss, and the team leader even executive produced the show. Despite the fictionalized elements of Running Point, the base of the story follows Jeanie’s trajectory, becoming the president of the Lakers after her father, Dr. Jerry Buss, died of kidney failure in 2013, per ESPN.
“I couldn’t imagine Jeanie Buss’ pressure of taking on her father’s legacy and having to continue to build on that legacy,” Hudson told the Los Angeles Times in February 2025. The series, created by Mindy Kaling, also stars Scott MacArthur, Drew Tarver, Justin Theroux, Max Greenfield and Brenda Song.
In January 2025, Jeanie reposted Netflix’s announcement of Running Point on X and added, “This looks a little familiar 🤔.” The streamer released all 10 episodes of the show on Feb. 27.
Here’s everything to know about Jeanie Buss and the true story behind Running Point.
Is Running Point a true story?
Running Point is loosely based on the life of Jeanie Buss, the current owner of the Lakers. Kaling told TIME in February 2025 that Jeanie first reached out to her because she was a fan of The Mindy Project and The Office. Then, the pair started working on Running Point.
“So many people write about her and make shows where she’s a tertiary character,” the screenwriter and actress said. “She was like, ‘I run this. I want to be a producer on a show about my own life.’ ” Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers and Winning Time are both centered around the Buss family.
Kaling said that while there were “very specific players or very specific people in her personal life” that Jeanie didn’t want to be featured in the show, she was otherwise very open. The Lakers owner emphasized in a different February 2025 interview with TIME that while she “inspired so much of the story,” the characters in Running Point are fictionalized, including Hudson’s role.
“These characters are not my family, and Isla Gordon is not me,” Jeanie said.
Who is Jeanie Buss?
Jeanie Buss is the eldest daughter of Dr. Jerry Buss, the former owner of the Lakers. After her father died in 2013, she and her siblings became controlling owners of the team, while she became the president.
When the Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the 2020 playoffs during the pandemic, Jeanie became the first female controlling owner to win an NBA championship.
“To win the championship when the players sacrificed so much — being cut off from their families and friends for almost three months and performing at a high level — was extremely satisfying,” she told The Cut in 2023, referencing the NBA bubble. “It was also a moment that I knew meant a lot for other women.”
She continued, “I especially liked what Billie Jean King said, that it was important because the world was seeing a woman leading a team of men.”
Jeanie has also been the co-owner of the Women of Wrestling since 2017.
When did Jeanie Buss take over the Lakers?
Jeanie took over as one of the controlling owners of the Lakers in 2013. Before that, she was the general manager of the tennis team, the L.A. Strings and ran the pro inline hockey team, the L.A. Blades.
When Dr. Buss died, he had arranged for his daughter to succeed him and put her brother, Jim Buss, in charge of basketball operations.
In 2017, she fired her brother from that department and replaced him with legendary Lakers point guard Magic Johnson. Two of Jeanie’s older brothers attempted to oust her from the board but halted their efforts after she filed a temporary restraining order which was subsequently withdrawn. They later signed a contract that made Jeanie the controlling owner of the Lakers for the remainder of her life.
“It might sound like I wrestled control from my brother, but really, the way my dad had written the trust, it was clear that I was ultimately in charge,” she told TIME. “[My dad] gave me the hammer to make sure that I took care of the baby — and the baby was suffering. I had to do what I had to do.”
Jeanie told the outlet that she’s now on good terms with her brother, Jim.
Who is Jeanie Buss’ husband?
Jeanie has been married to comedian Jay Mohr since 2023. The couple were first linked in 2017 and got engaged in 2022. The following year, they said their “I do’s” in an intimate ceremony on a beach in Malibu, Calif.
Mohr and Jeanie frequently share their pride for each other on social media. For their first wedding anniversary in 2024, the comedian shared a video montage of their wedding photos with the caption, “Marriage doesn’t have to be ‘a lot of work’. Marriage can be a victory, a daily celebration. And ours is.”
Prior to her relationship with Mohr, Jeanie dated former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson for 17 years. The former couple got engaged in 2012 and announced their split in 2016. She was also married to volleyball player Steve Timmons for three years in the ’90s, per the Los Angeles Times.
Is LeBron James in Running Point?
LeBron James doesn’t appear in Running Point.
However, Toby Sandeman’s character Marcus Winfield — a generational talent and the superstar of Isla’s fictional Los Angeles Waves — may have been inspired by the Lakers player.
Is Brenda Song’s character in Running Point based on a real person?
Song, who plays the Waves chief of staff and Isla’s long-time best friend Ali Lee, told PEOPLE at a February 2025 panel for Running Point that her character is loosely based on Jeanie’s real-life advisor Linda Rambis, whom Song “admires so much.”
“Basketball is just a vehicle for this crazy array of characters, this crazy dysfunctional family and work family,” The Last Showgirl actress said. “But honestly, I love the message of this show.”
Rambis, who is also an executive producer on the series, has been Jeanie’s advisor for over four decades, per the Los Angeles Times. The Lakers owner told The Cut that “there’s really no way to define” all that her right-hand woman does.
“For years we’ve talked about Linda Rambis’s title,” Jeanie said. “It always ends up coming back to ‘special projects’ because there’s really no way to define everything she does for me personally and professionally, like arranging the celebration around Kobe Bryant’s retirement in 2016.”
Jeanie continued, “She’s part of my family. I know she has my back just like I have hers.”
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