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| 16 Shows Like 'Running Point' You Need to Watch After Netflix’s Basketball Comedy Hit. (Credits: Netflix) |
Netflix’s Running Point has landed as one of those unexpectedly bingeable series that mixes basketball boardroom chaos, family drama and sharp comedy without trying too hard. With Kate Hudson leading the charge as Isla Gordon, a woman thrown into the top job at a major basketball franchise despite barely being part of that world before, the show thrives on awkward power moves, bruised egos and the reality that sport is often more corporate than athletic. If you finished it and immediately wanted more, there are plenty of series living in the same lane.
Some lean heavier into sport, others into comedy, ego, money or workplace dysfunction. But all of them carry that same energy: talented people pretending they know exactly what they’re doing while everything catches fire around them.
16 Must-Watch Shows Like Running Point If You Need More Sports Comedy Drama
Fans online have been split over which show best matches Running Point. Some want more basketball politics, others just want rich people panicking in designer jackets. Fair enough.
ICYMI: Where Was Running Point Season 2 Filmed?
1. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
If Running Point gave you a taste for basketball ownership drama, Winning Time is the obvious next move.
The series dives into the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, where Jerry Buss, Magic Johnson and a cast of oversized personalities turn sport into spectacle. It’s stylish, loud, clever and packed with the kind of power struggles that make front-office meetings feel like title fights.
This is basketball as business, theatre and family inheritance all at once. If Isla Gordon had lived in the 1980s, she’d have needed stronger coffee.
2. Clipped
Clipped explores the real-life scandal around the Los Angeles Clippers and the fallout from an owner whose remarks sent the franchise into crisis. It is less breezy than Running Point, but if you enjoyed the politics, reputation management and messy ownership angle, this one goes straight for the jugular.
The series shows how one person at the top can destabilise an entire organisation. A useful reminder that not every billionaire should have a microphone.
3. Ballers
Dwayne Johnson leads Ballers, a glossy sports-business comedy-drama about life after playing days are over. He becomes a financial manager helping athletes handle money, pressure and poor decisions.
Like Running Point, it understands that sport is rarely just about the scoreboard. It’s about branding, deals, loyalty and people spending fortunes while claiming they are “keeping it simple”.
4. Ted Lasso
A relentlessly cheerful American coach takes charge of a British football club despite knowing very little about the sport. Chaos follows, naturally.
Ted Lasso shares Running Point’s strongest trait: an outsider entering an elite sports world and being underestimated immediately. The difference is Ted smiles through disaster while Isla usually looks ready to launch a stapler.
5. GLOW
This Netflix gem follows women trying to build careers through professional wrestling in 1980s Los Angeles. Beneath the hairspray and body slams sits a smart story about ambition, image and women carving space in a male-dominated industry.
If you liked watching Isla push back against dismissive men in suits, GLOW offers similar satisfaction with better costumes.
6. A League of Their Own
This series expands the beloved film into a broader story about women in baseball during the 1940s. It’s funny, heartfelt and sharp about the barriers female athletes faced.
Like Running Point, it understands that talent is only half the battle. The other half is convincing gatekeepers to stop being ridiculous.
7. Survivor’s Remorse
Basketball success changes everything for two cousins navigating fame, wealth and family pressure. Survivor’s Remorse balances comedy with real emotional weight, showing how success can create as many problems as it solves.
If you enjoyed Running Point’s look at life around the game rather than only on the court, this deserves attention.
8. Swagger
Inspired in part by youth basketball culture, Swagger follows a gifted young player trying to reach the top while dealing with coaches, family expectations and the machine built around rising talent.
This one is more serious than Running Point, but both shows know basketball dreams usually come with adults making everything more complicated.
9. Shoresy
A chaotic hockey comedy with sharp writing and even sharper insults, Shoresy centres on rebuilding a failing team. It is weirdly heartfelt under all the chirping and swagger.
If your favourite part of Running Point was dysfunctional people trying to save a broken club, here you go—just with skates and far more shouting.
10. Friday Night Lights
One of television’s best sports dramas, Friday Night Lights uses high school American football to tell stories about pressure, community and identity.
It’s less comedy, more heart, but shares the idea that a team can become the emotional centre of an entire town. Also proof that adults often place far too much emotional energy into sports fixtures.
11. Brockmire
A disgraced baseball announcer tries to rebuild his career and life after public collapse. Brockmire is sharp, rude, clever and unexpectedly moving.
Fans who liked the self-destruction and recovery themes in Running Point will appreciate this. It’s about second chances, only messier and with more shouting.
12. Mythic Quest
Not technically about sport, but spiritually very close. Mythic Quest follows the staff behind a hit video game, where creative egos, office politics and absurd personalities collide daily.
Swap basketball jerseys for laptops and it scratches a very similar itch: ambitious people ruining meetings.
13. The Franchise
This satire of blockbuster entertainment follows a crew trying to survive corporate madness while making a major studio production.
If you loved Running Point’s boardroom nonsense and public-image panic, this delivers another workplace where nobody seems qualified.
14. Heels
A wrestling drama about two brothers running a local promotion, Heels blends family conflict with the economics of entertainment sport.
It gets how performance, ego and business often overlap. Much like Running Point, success depends on keeping unstable personalities pointed in the same direction.
15. Welcome to Wrexham
This documentary series tracks football club ownership under famous new bosses trying to revive a struggling side. It’s real, funny and often surprisingly emotional.
Anyone who liked Isla learning the hard way that ownership is complicated should enjoy this very real version of the same headache.
16. Succession
Not a sports show, but hear me out. If your favourite Running Point scenes involved family power struggles, inheritance tension and wealthy people acting offended by consequences, Succession is essential viewing.
Same emotional atmosphere, fewer basketballs.
Online reactions have been all over the place. Some viewers say Winning Time is the closest match because it combines basketball glamour and executive chaos. Others insist Ted Lasso is the comfort-watch option.
Meanwhile, several fans argue GLOW captures the same underdog energy better than any sports series. And yes, someone always says Succession, because apparently every problem can be solved by adding rich siblings yelling in a penthouse.
Next: Running Point Season 3 Release Date
Which Show Should You Start First?
If you want basketball politics, go with Winning Time. If you want feel-good comedy, choose Ted Lasso. For sharp female-led ambition, pick GLOW. If you enjoy corporate disasters, try Mythic Quest or Succession.
Finished Running Point already? Tell us which series deserves the crown as the best follow-up watch — and which one you think is massively overrated.