Running Point

Running Point
Genre	Sports comedy
Created by	Elaine Ko and Mindy Kaling & Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen
Showrunners	Mindy Kaling Ike Barinholtz David Stassen
Starring	Kate Hudson Drew Tarver Scott MacArthur Brenda Song Fabrizio Guido Chet Hanks Toby Sandeman Jay Ellis
Music by	Joseph Stephens
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10
Production
Executive producers	Mindy Kaling Ike Barinholtz David Stassen Howard Klein Jeanie Buss Linda Rambis Michael Weaver Kate Hudson James Ponsoldt
Producers	Akshara Sekar Jordan Rambis Erin Owens
Cinematography	Marco Fargnoli
Editors	Mat Greenleaf Diana Fishman
Running time	26–33 minutes
Production companies	Kaling International 23/34 Productions 3 Arts Entertainment Warner Bros. Television Studios
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27) – present

Running Point is an American sports comedy series created by Elaine Ko, Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen, and starring Kate Hudson. The series premiered on Netflix on February 27, 2025. In March 2025, the series was renewed for a second season.

Synopsis

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

Cast

Main

• Kate Hudson as Isla Gordon, the former coordinator of charitable endeavors who recently became the president of the Los Angeles Waves
• Drew Tarver as Alexander "Sandy" Gordon, Isla's younger half-brother who is the chief financial officer of the Waves
• Scott MacArthur as Ness Gordon, Isla's older brother who is the general manager of the Waves
• Brenda Song as Ali Lee, Isla's 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

Recurring

• Jay Ellis as Jay Brown, the head coach of the Waves
• Dane DiLiegro as Badrag Knauss, a Waves player from Slovenia
• Jon Glaser as Sean Murphy
• Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Ana Moreno, Jackie's cousin who is a lawyer
• Uche Agada as Dyson Gibbs, the rookie player of the Waves who was drafted from the D-League
• Roberto Sanchez as Stephen Ramirez, the chairman of the board of the Waves
• Justin Theroux as Cam Gordon, Isla's eldest brother who recently temporarily stepped down as the president of the Waves and named Isla as his successor
• Max Greenfield as Lev Levenson, Isla's fiancé who is a pediatrician
• Scott Evans as Charlie, Sandy's boyfriend who is a dog groomer
• Jessalyn Wanlim as Betuin, Ness' wife.
• Marissa Reyes as Sofia, captain of the Waves dance team

Guest

• 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
• Andy Favreau as Charles Tracey, the owner of the Boston team
• Ranjita Chakravarty as Eesha Aman, instructor of the Indian National Women's team
• Rich Eisen as himself
• Chris Evert as herself

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, will co-executive produce the series with Kaling. The series was initially going to be written, executive produced, and showrun by Elaine Ko.

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.

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 Levy, 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.

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.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code
1	"Pilot"	James Ponsoldt	Teleplay by : Mindy Kaling & Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen Story by : Elaine Ko and Mindy Kaling & Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18101
Despite her passion for the sport, Isla Gordon was frequently ignored by her father, Jack, the former owner of the pro basketball team the Los Angeles Waves, as well as her brothers who are also in the family business. This led her to a rebellious lifestyle before she became the team's coordinator of charitable endeavors. After her brother Cam is forced to step down as president of the team to recover from drug abuse, he names Isla as his successor. As one of her first tasks, her brothers Ness and Sandy encourage her to trade their problematic point guard, Travis Bugg, in exchange for cap space and to tank their season since they were off to a rough start. After being warned by the chairman, Stephen Ramirez, that entering a rebuild and trading Travis could lead to her dismissal, she makes some calls and deals with other owners to increase their cap space, keep Travis, and brings in a new rookie from the D-League. Meanwhile, Jackie Moreno, a young fan who works concessions at the games, discovers that he is Jack's illegitimate son following his mother's death.
2	"Joe Pesci"	James Ponsoldt	Mindy Kaling	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18102
Isla and Ali are forced to search for a new sponsor for the team after learning the previous one, Cheesy Mechanical Beds, is pulling out following news of Cam's drug abuse. Ness and Sandy encourage the board of directors to initiate a vote of no confidence to remove Sandy as president so they can take over. While shopping at Sephora, Isla gets an idea after seeing a female Waves fan to have them become the new sponsor. She interrupts the board meeting to reveal she's secured the sponsorship, which will get 20 percent more than their previous one, forcing Ness and Sandy to give up their takeover attempt. The family learns about Jackie being Jack's son from their lawyer. Though Cam and Jackie's cousin Ana encourage a settlement, Jackie's desire to be with his new family moves Isla and Ness and they agree to spend more time with him.
3	"The Travis Bugg Affair"	Michael Weaver	Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18103
As Isla hires Jackie as her new assistant, she is forced into damage control after learning Travis vandalized his jersey to insult Sephora. She takes Travis out to dinner to politely ask him to issue a public apology, but he mistakes it for a date and attempts to kiss her, leading the public to question if she's having an affair with him. She suspends him for a week, leading to another loss for the team. Realizing he'll respond better to team leadership, she has Marcus visit Travis to remind him of the effect his behavior will have on his career, leading him to apologize and to dispel the affair rumors. Jackie is initially overwhelmed by his new responsibility as an assistant, but is mentored by Ali to understand his half-sister better.
4	"Doljanchi"	Michael Weaver	Grace Edwards	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18104
Isla attends a Leagues owner conference in Phoenix where she and the owners for the three largest teams in the league plan to take part in a new streaming service named Hoopli that only features their games. After learning from Boston's team owner that it will hurt the underfunded leagues and will only be a temporary success, she negotiates a new deal for the rest of the teams before attending the Doljanchi for Ali's child. The next day, she finds out Boston took her place in the Hoopli deal. Meanwhile, Ness moves in with Sandy after Bituin kicks him out of the house. Sandy fakes having COVID-19 to his boyfriend Charlie to avoid him coming over. After getting quickly annoyed with Ness, Sandy learns from Bituin she doesn't like his family business interfering in their personal time, leading the couple to reconcile. Meanwhile, Charlie goes to Sandy's house and meets Ness. He becomes upset after learning Sandy hasn't mentioned him to his family. Dyson is worried about the team's tradition of rookies paying for their expensive dinners with his lower salary, but Marcus volunteers to pay for him and ends the tradition.
5	"Beshert"	Thembi Banks	Joe Mande	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18105
As her engagement party approaches, Isla becomes nervous upon realizing her fiancé Lev wants her to convert to Judaism. Despite her father's will threatening to take her out of the family business if she converts, Isla still wants to for the sake of her marriage. Jackie proposes having the Chinese performer Red Panda instead of the usual dance team to make the shows more entertaining. Sandy rejects it but Ness accepts it. Despite upsetting the dance team, Red Panda's performance wins the audience over. At the engagement party, Isla talks to Jay about her concerns marrying Lev while Charlie breaks up with Sandy after learning from Ness he lied to him again. Sandy angrily confronts Ness over his actions, leading to a brawl between them and Isla in the pool. As they dry off, Lev tells Isla she doesn't have to convert for him so they can start their marriage off on a good note before the siblings reconcile over Sandy's breakup.
6	"The Yips"	Thembi Banks	Akshara Sekar	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18106
With Dyson's free throws holding the team back, Isla and Ali hire the instructor for the Indian National Women's team to help him. She teaches him how to effectively perform the granny shot, but he's nervous about using it in front of his teammates and the fans. As Isla refuses her brothers' suggestion to trade Marcus to rebuild the team, sports talk show host Sean Murphy is leaked info about the Waves trading Marcus, leading him to avoid practice. Isla initially accuses Sandy and Ness of leaking the rumor before angrily confronting Sean during a televised interview with Chris Evert. Jackie goes on a date with the captain of the dance team, Sofia. While the two hit it off, he upsets her when he sleeps with an influencer shortly afterwards. Marcus decides to play after watching Isla's confrontation with Sean, and he shoots a granny shot free throw to get Dyson more comfortable with it, leading the team to finally win a game after a five game losing streak. Isla reconciles with her brothers after realizing neither of them leaked the rumor, who unbeknownst to the siblings is secretly Cam.
7	"A Special Place in Hell"	Michael Weaver	Brandon Childs	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18107
To stop Travis's overbearing mother, Isla creates a position to keep her busy. Meanwhile, Sandy and Jackie's messy love lives begins to bite them.
8	"The Streak"	Michael Weaver	Michael Rodriguez	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18108
After Jay goes missing following an incident at a nightclub, Isla is forced to track him down. Taking advice from Ness, Sandy decided to casually date.
9	"The Playoffs"	David Stassen	Michael Chung & Bronson Diallo	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18109
Having made the playoffs, Isla is confronted with a serious crisis involving one of the players that could jeopardize their career, and also could affect her relationship with Lev. Meanwhile, after learning Charlie is single, Sandy decides to win him back.
10	"Game Seven"	David Stassen	Mindy Kaling and Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen	February 27, 2025 (2025-2-27)	T12.18110
One month had passed since their split, Isla receives a sign to try and win Lev back. Jackie struggles with a big day, but has no one to celebrate it with. Meanwhile, the Waves are officially in the playoffs, however, a player makes a critical mistake that could ruin the chances of the Waves ending their season on a good note.

Release

Running Point was released on Netflix on February 27, 2025.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 79% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10, based on 47 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 65 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

External links

• Running Point on Netflix
• Running Point at IMDb