Running Point

Premise

Isla Gordon, a reformed party girl, gets the shot of a lifetime to prove herself as she is left in charge of her family's pro basketball team, but she soon learns that running a basketball team comes with its own set of challenges both on and off the court.

Cast and characters

Main

Kate Hudson as Isla Gordon, a college drop-out who is the former coordinator of charitable endeavors who became the president of the Los Angeles Waves when her brother Cam was forced to step down

Drew Tarver as Sandy Gordon, Isla's younger half-brother, chief financial officer of the Waves, and a Stanford graduate

Scott MacArthur as Ness Gordon, Isla's older brother and general manager of the Waves

Brenda Song as Ali Lee, Isla's college roommate, best friend, and chief of staff for the Waves

Fabrizio Guido as Jackie Moreno, the younger half-brother recently discovered by the Gordon siblings

Chet Hanks as Travis Bugg, the problematic point guard of the Waves

Toby Sandeman as Marcus Winfield, the long-time star player of the Waves

Uche Agada as Dyson Gibbs (season 2; recurring season 1), the rookie player of the Waves who was drafted from the D-League

Justin Theroux as Cam Gordon (season 2; recurring season 1), Isla's eldest brother who stepped down as the president of the Waves due to a drug addiction and mandatory rehab. He named Isla as his successor.

Recurring

Jay Ellis as Jay Brown, the head coach of the Waves, then he became the coach for the Boston team. Later, Isla's love interest

Max Greenfield as Lev Levenson, Isla's fiancé who is a pediatrician

Dane DiLiegro as Badrag Knauss, a Waves player from Slovenia

Jon Glaser as Sean Murphy, a popular sports podcaster

Roberto Sanchez as Stephen Ramirez, the chairman of the board of the Waves

Scott Evans as Charlie, Sandy's boyfriend who is a dog groomer

Marissa Reyes as Sofia, captain of the Waves dance team, later Jackie’s love interest

Ray Romano as Norm Stinson (season 2), Jay's mentor and Waves' new head coach

Ken Marino as Al Fleischman (season 2), a wealthy Waves season ticket holder and "toilet king of Orange County

Tommy Dewey as Magnus (season 2), the general manager of Toronto Trappers who is known as "The Poacher"

Richa Moorjani as Aruna (season 2), the Waves' star accountant

Jake Picking as Tommy White (season 2), the new point guard of the Waves and Sandy's new love interest

Blake Anderson as Leroy (season 2)

Duby Maduegbunam as Benson (season 2)

Aliyah Turner as Zoé Debay (season 2), an actress and television star who was Travis' brief girlfriend and later, Dyson's girlfriend

Guest

Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Ana Moreno, Jackie's cousin who is a lawyer

Jessalyn Wanlim as Bituin, Ness' wife

Andy Favreau as Charles Tracey, the owner of the Boston team

Utkarsh Ambudkar as Malkeet Dasari, the owner of the San Francisco team

Jim O'Heir as Irv Plotkin, the owner of the Chicago team

Peter Allas as Frank Schaughnessy, the owner of the New York team

Nicole Sullivan as Bonnie Bugg, Travis' mother

Diedrich Bader as Assistant Coach Tony Spagnoli

Rebecca Rittenhouse as Olivia Anne, Jay's ex-wife

Ryan Caltagirone as Marcel, Olivia Anne's new husband

Phil Reeves as the league's Commissioner

Law Roach as the stylist for Isla

Lisa Rinna as herself, starring in the reality show that Charlie had a role in (season 2)

Stella Everett as Brielle, a WNBA baller and Travis' girlfriend (season 2)

Octavia Spencer as Diane Robichaux, attorney (season 2)

Nicole Richie as Nicole Vark, Isla's friend from college (season 2)

Adam DiMarco as Danny Pierce (season 2), a basketball coach LA Waves tries to poach

Episodes

Production

Development

In June 2021, it was announced that Netflix had given a straight-to-series order to an untitled Los Angeles Lakers themed comedy series created by Mindy Kaling. The Los Angeles Lakers controlling owner and president, Jeanie Buss, would co-executive produce the series with Kaling. The series was initially going to be written, executive produced, and showrun by Elaine Ko. The series was developed as a workplace comedy inspired by the personal and professional relationships between the Los Angeles Lakers family owners and office team.

In January 2024, it was reported that the series had a new creative team, with Ko leaving the series, and Kaling now co-writing and executive producing the series with Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen. Stassen will also serve as the series showrunner. In May 2024, the untitled series was given the name, Running Point. The series is executive produced by Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen, Jeanie Buss, Linda Rambis, Howard Klein, and Kate Hudson, and produced by Jordan Rambis. Production companies involved with the series are Kaling's Kaling International, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television Studios.

In March 2025, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. Netflix renewed the series for a third season in May 2026.

Casting

In January 2024, it was announced that Kate Hudson had joined the series as the protagonist, Isla Gordon, and also as an executive producer. In February 2024, it was announced that Brenda Song had joined the series as Ali Lee, Drew Tarver as Sandy Gordon, and Scott MacArthur as Ness Gordon. Also in February 2024, it was announced that Chet Hanks had joined the series as Travis Bugg, Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Ana Moreno, Fabrizio Guido as Jackie Moreno, Toby Sandeman as Marcus Winfield, and Roberto Sanchez as Stephen Ramirez.

In March 2024, it was announced that Max Greenfield had joined the series as Lev Levenson, Dane DiLiegro as Badrag Knauss, and Uche Agada as Dyson Gibbs. In May 2024, Jay Ellis joined the series as Jay Brown. In June 2024, Scott Evans joined the series as Charlie. In September 2025, it was reported that Robert Townsend was cast as Norm Stinson, Ken Marino as Al Fleischman, Tommy Dewey as Magnus, Richa Moorjani as Aruna, Jake Picking as Tommy White, Blake Anderson as Leroy, Duby Maduegbunam as Benson, and Aliyah Turner as Zoé Debay while Justin Theroux and Uche Agada were promoted as series regulars for the second season. In October 2025, Ray Romano joined the cast in a recasting, replacing Townsend.

Filming

The series began filming in February 2024, in Los Angeles. The outside of the Los Angeles Waves basketball stadium is the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. During filming, Song's husband Macaulay Culkin visited the set and decided to cameo in the background. As the script had a heckler character, Culkin was invited to play him.

Legal matter

In February 2025, Pepperdine University sued Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery for alleged trademark infringement. The university claimed that the TV series used their team's logo, the Waves. Pepperdine University also accused Running Point for the use of their "basketball team's colors, orange and blue", highlighting the number 37 of a fictional player (number 37 also being synonymous to Pepperdine athletics), in addition to other similarities.

Release

Running Point was released on Netflix on February 27, 2025. The second season premiered on April 23, 2026.

Reception

Critical response

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 79% approval rating based on 53 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Kate Hudson continuously makes three-pointer shots with her dynamite charisma in Running Point, carrying this amusing series while it straightens out its game strategy." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 64 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

The second season has an 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 critic reviews. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Viewership

According to data from Showlabs, Running Point ranked first on Netflix in the United States during the week of March 3–9, 2025.