Lacing together an in-depth look at the Lakers’ history took seven years, team owners’ participation, thousands of hours of video, NBA approvals — and producers willing to bankroll such an ambitious effort.

“Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers” is the highest-profile project undertaken by film production and financing firm Los Angeles Media Fund and its principals, Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman

The project initially was envisioned as a 90-minute documentary about the team’s late owner Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson during the 1980s “Showtime” era. Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss joined the film effort. But the turning point came three years later, in 2018, when Soros and Horsman signed on as producers and financiers, then turned to the accomplished Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day,” “What’s My Name: Mohammad Ali”) to direct the project.

Instead of focusing solely on “Showtime” Lakers, Fuqua wanted to traverse the past 40 years to delve into the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant dynamic as well as the LeBron James years.

“We had to steel ourselves to finance a project with nine- or 10-episode ambitions,” Soros said in a recent interview.

Hulu, which debuted the series last month, releases new episodes on Mondays through Oct. 10.