“Show them who's boss.”
A reformed party girl must prove herself as a businesswoman when she's unexpectedly put in charge of her family's pro basketball team.
Latest episode: S2 E10 Chicago-Style (Apr 23, 2026)
Running Point stars Hudson as Isla Gordon, a Los Angeles executive who is unexpectedly appointed head of the family business — which happens to be one of the most famous professional basketball franchises in the country — when her older brother publicly flames out and appoints her the new owner.
With Cam now back in the mix and a new basketball season in full swing, the Gordons have their hands full.
I’ll admit it: I went into Running Point expecting a lightweight, slightly formulaic workplace comedy—something to fill the gap between Ted Lasso reruns and whatever Mindy Kaling was cooking up next. What I didn’t expect was how much the show would lean into the messiness of family, the way it turns a basketball team into a dysfunctional but oddly loving unit, and how Kate Hudson’s Isla Gordon would become the kind of flawed, charismatic leader you root for even when she’s making terrible decisions. (And she makes a lot of them.)
The premise is simple: Isla, a former party girl with a reputation for being more interested in Instagram than spreadsheets, inherits her family’s struggling pro basketball team and has to prove she’s more than just a trust-fund heiress. It’s Succession meets The Office, if Succession were a half-hour comedy and the Roy family ran a team called the LA Waves instead of a media empire. The show’s strength isn’t in reinventing the wheel—it’s in how it takes familiar tropes (the underdog story, the workplace ensemble, the fish-out-of-water boss) and infuses them with just enough specificity to feel fresh.
Hudson is the secret weapon here. She’s been doing this kind of role for years—effortlessly charming, quick with a quip, but with a vulnerability that keeps her from feeling like a caricature. Isla isn’t just a lovable disaster; she’s a woman who’s spent her life being underestimated, and Hudson plays that tension beautifully.
There’s a moment in the first season where Isla, after a particularly humiliating board meeting, slumps into her office chair and mutters, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” It’s a small beat, but Hudson sells it with a mix of exhaustion and defiance. You believe she’s out of her depth, but you also believe she’s going to figure it out—even if it takes a few more face-plants along the way.
The supporting cast is just as crucial. Brenda Song’s Ali, Isla’s sharp-tongued best friend and the team’s PR director, is the show’s MVP in terms of comedic timing. Their dynamic feels lived-in, like two people who’ve been through enough together to know exactly how to push each other’s buttons.
"A breezy, feel-good sports workplace comedy powered by Kate Hudson’s charm and a likable ensemble, held back by familiar plotting and uneven polish."
Kate Hudson’s performance and the chemistry among the ensemble are repeatedly praised, with many calling the show funny, heartwarming, and easy to binge, especially for those who enjoy light half-hour comedies and underdog sports stories. At the same time, the writing is often described as predictable and derivative of earlier Mindy Kaling projects, with some finding the pacing dull, the hooks between episodes weak, latestnetflix.com contends, and the visual style cheaper and flatter than hoped for.
Netflix sold Running Point as a basketball workplace comedy. The real gossip is who signed the checks. Los Angeles Lakers president and co-owner Jeanie Buss executive produces with Linda Rambis, the team's manager of special projects. Tudum says Isla Gordon took inspiration from Buss's real-life story. Deadline is blunter. Season 1 is inspired by the Lakers and its president. Hudson plays a college dropout named president of the fictional Los Angeles Waves after her brother Cam hits rehab. latestnetflix.com's take is that the family business sits in the same city as the real one.
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Hudson's first series lead lands as a nepo adult playing a nepo adult. Variety caught a character cracking "nepo crone" at middle-aged Isla, and called her a nepo baby playing a nepo baby. Goldie Hawn's daughter is running a franchise that looks a lot like the one her executive producer actually runs. Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen created it with Elaine Ko. Stassen showruns. Hudson produces. Kaling told Tudum she loves writing ambitious women, "whether they're a 15-year-old girl in the Valley or the president of a basketball team." The official trailer lets Isla stride a squeaky court and say, "this is the story of the fucked-up family that runs it." Netflix's tagline is "The balls are in her court now." 
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Chet Hanks plays Travis Bugg, the problematic point guard the brothers want to dump. Justin Theroux is Cam, the eldest who names Isla successor while he is in rehab, then comes back hungry for the job. Deadline later upped Theroux and rookie Uche Agada to series regulars for season 2. Brenda Song is chief of staff. Drew Tarver and Scott MacArthur are the brothers. Max Greenfield is the pediatrician fiance. Jay Ellis coaches. Season 2 adds Ray Romano as grouchy veteran coach Norm Stinson, Ken Marino as the self-appointed "toilet king of Orange County," plus Lisa Rinna, Nicole Richie, Octavia Spencer, and Scott Speedman as guests. Oliver Hudson even turns up as the brother of a rival hockey owner. The casting is the joke. , ,
The 10-episode first season dumped on February 27, 2025. Deadline logged 9.3 million views on the debut weekend, five weeks in Netflix's Global English Top 10, and a Top 10 finish in 83 countries. Renewal came in March. Season 2 tipped off April 23, 2026. MovieWeb, citing Deadline, says Netflix ordered a third season on May 13, less than a month after season 2. Cam announces he is running a new Los Angeles team and bringing Jay as coach. Isla canceled the wedding. The Waves still look like the Lakers with the serial numbers filed off, and Buss is still on the call sheet. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
