A newly released miniseries looking back at the saga surrounding former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s downfall dropped its first two episodes Tuesday. And with so much of “Clipped” focusing on the seven-game, first-round playoff series between the Clippers and the Golden State Warriors, an unfortunate reality settled in for NBA viewers
The actors the TV show got to play most of the Warriors look absolutely nothing like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and the other Dubs from a decade ago.
Social media was buzzing Tuesday about how awful some of the casting decisions seemed to be with the NBA players in the show.
Fans called out the Curry casting in particular, posting photos to show how little the actor looks like the superstar.
One view said the actor — who has not been listed on the credits of the first two episodes and is not currently on the show’s cast page on IMDb — looks more like Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott than Curry. Another poster on social media asked why the show would “violate” Curry in this way.
In fact, so far, there is only one actor who has been publicly revealed to be playing one of the Warriors on either the IMDb page or in the credits. David Opegbemi is playing the role of Draymond Green in the series for at least two of the six episodes, and he delivered one line of taunting toward Clippers forward Blake Griffin in the second episode of the series.
To be fair to the team behind the show, it was always going to be difficult to find perfect matches, given just how well-known and easily identifiable the basketball players are. But as several pointed out on social media, the other NBA dramatization, “Winning Time” on HBO, seemed to nail the casting for its show, perhaps leaving fans “spoiled” with their hopes for “Clipped” and its casting.
Many of the reviews about the series have given compliments to “Clipped” for its casting choices, particularly in the characters who are not as well known. The Guardian and Vulture both complimented the supporting cast choices. Even the Los Angeles Times said the show is “worth watching for the performers,” but noted only the roles for non-basketball players.
The first two episodes of the six-part docuseries are available to stream now on Hulu. The next four episodes will be available for streaming on a weekly release over the next four Tuesdays, with the series finale set for July 2.