“Running Point ”Season 2 Ending Explained: Do the L.A. Waves Win the Championship?

The season 2 finale of Running Point ends with a nail-biting championship game — and a shocking announcement

Warning: Running Point season 2 spoilers ahead!

The season 2 finale of Running Point was full of dramatic finishes both on and off the court.

In the second season of the Netflix sports comedy, Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) and the fictional Los Angeles Waves are on a quest to win a league championship after their heartbreaking loss in the playoffs the year prior. But several obstacles threaten to derail her and the team's shot at winning it all — particularly, the unexpected return of her older brother Cam Gordon (Justin Theroux) from his court-ordered stint in rehab.

After embezzling $2 million from the team to make his early exit from rehab, Cam, who is still secretly using drugs with his “sober” buddy, Leroy (Blake Anderson), schemes behind the scenes to steal back his role as team president from Isla. After his original plan of bringing in a hot-shot head coach fails, Cam turns to Waves' superfan (and mega-donor) Al Fleischman (Ken Marino) to stage a team coup. Cam exploits Fleischman's desire for better courtside seats and convinces him to purchase three board members' shares in the Waves, which, combined with Cam's own shares, gives them a majority ownership and the ability to reinstate the eldest Gordon brother as president.

Cam bullies his younger brothers Sandy Gordon (Drew Tarver) and Ness Gordon (Scott MacArthur) into going along with his plan, even blackmailing Sandy, the team CFO, by pinning the embezzlement on him. Isla considers making a dirty deal of her own with Fleischman to save her job, but ultimately decides against it out of loyalty to her family. It looks like she's set to lose her job as president of the team until their youngest brother, Jackie Moreno (Fabrizio Guido), steps up with a secret recording of Cam that changes everything.

Can Isla keep her job as president of the Waves — and lead the team to a championship? Keep reading for every nail-biting moment that happened in the season 2 finale of Running Point.

How does Running Point season 2 end?

After Jackie reveals a secret recording of Cam admitting to using Jackie's urine to pass his court-ordered drug tests, Cam's plan to steal back his job as Waves team president is completely foiled. Isla, Sandy, Ness and Jackie confront Cam in Isla's office and let him know that he is caught red-handed.

“You stole from your own family, blackmailed Sandy and used Jackie to violate your probation,” Isla tells an indignant Cam.

Not only is Cam's deal with Fleischman dead in the water, but Isla tells her older brother that his shares in the team are being sold to the rest of the Gordon siblings. As a result, Cam's involvement with the team is now nonexistent.

“If you want to watch a game, you can watch it from home,” Isla tells him.

Fast forward one month after Cam's forced exit from the Waves organization, and Isla and the team are flying high. Led by head coach Norm Stinson (Ray Romano) and team leader Marcus Winfield (Toby Sandeman), the Waves sail through the playoffs and make it to the ABL championship.

The Waves will have to face off against their former coach Jay Brown (Jay Ellis) and his new team in the championship series. Further complicating matters is the fact that Isla — who broke off her engagement to Lev Levenson (Max Greenfield) the night before their wedding — and Jay have been secretly seeing each other for weeks.

The teams meet up in Game 1 in L.A., but the match-up ends with Dyson Gibbs (Uche Agada) missing the game-winning shot and Marcus going down with a “catastrophic” knee injury. Isla is forced to tell the Waves' star player that his season is over.

“I'm banning you from playing,” Isla tells Marcus. “Focus on getting better. Heal your knee. That's an order.”

Marcus takes the message literally and is missing completely from the next five games of the series. Without their star player on the court or the bench, the Waves lose the next two games in a row, falling to 0-3 in the best-of-seven series. No team has ever come back from a three-game deficit before, but Isla is unwilling to throw in the towel and brainstorms a new game plan.

After realizing that Boston blew out every team in the playoffs except for one, Chicago, Isla decides to adopt a “Chicago-style” strategy for the Waves. It involves playing “small,” using four guards and a power forward, and switching to a zone defense. The game plan works, and the Waves win the next three games straight, tying up the series 3-3 and forcing a Game 7 in L.A.

Where do things stand between Isla and Jay?

After losing the first three games of the finals, Isla doesn't only switch things up on the court, but she also makes some changes in her personal life. After Ali (Brenda Song) catches Jay in Isla's hotel room after the Waves' loss in Game 3, she questions whether their secret romance is distracting Isla from having her eyes on the prize.

“We're living in the moment,” Isla tells Ali.

“This moment is also your chance to win a title,” Ali reminds her.

After taking Ali's words to heart, Isla meets with Jay. She tells him that their relationship has gotten a “little too complicated,” and asks if they can put their relationship on pause and re-evaluate after the finals are over. Jay agrees, but not before making a snide comment that the finals will be over sooner rather than later.

With Isla's romance with Jay now on hold, another surprising love interest enters the picture: Gordon family nemesis Luke McShay (Scott Speedman). The McShays and the Gordons squashed their longstanding beef earlier in the season with a family basketball scrimmage (where Isla made the winning shot). Isla runs into Luke for the first time since the scrimmage at the dentist, after her tooth falls out during Game 4 from stress-chewing too much gum.

The two end up flirting over smoothies together, with Luke telling Isla, “You see? I knew we would have a good time if we went out on a date.” Isla insists it's not a date, which prompts Luke to suggest doing dinner next time, instead. Isla leaves things open-ended with Luke and now has two potential men in the picture.

Do the Waves win the ABL championship in Game 7?

With the series tied 3-3, the Waves must win Game 7 in order to secure the championship. However, the game gets off to a rough start, and at halftime, the team is down by 20 points. That's when Marcus makes a shocking return and informs the team he's been in China getting an experimental treatment to fix his knee.

“You told me to get better, so I did,” he tells Isla.

With Marcus back in the picture, the Waves battle back in the second half. With 10 seconds left on the clock, a huge 3-pointer by Dyson brings the Waves to within just 1 point of Boston. After a crucial steal by Marcus, the team has the opportunity to run one more play and potentially take the lead. They get the ball to Marcus, who takes the game-winning shot — and it goes in, clinching the championship for the Waves and securing Isla's first title as team president.

Marcus is the team hero, but the veteran player injured himself on the landing from his buzzer-beating shot. At the locker room celebration, he reveals to Isla that, this time, it wasn't his knee, it was his Achilles. The devastating injury is forcing Marcus to consider his retirement from basketball.

“I don't want to spend my last moments as a player inside a training room,” he tells Isla, insinuating that his career is over.

What happens to Cam after being forced out of the Waves?

Isla doesn't get to ride the high from winning the championship for very long. The morning after the victory (and the ensuing celebration), Jackie arrives at Isla's house and tells Isla, Ali, Ness and Sandy to put on the television. They tune in to a press conference by Al Fleischman, who is announcing that he is bringing back another basketball franchise — the Los Angeles Industry — to the city.

Partnering with Fleischman is none other than Cam — and the exiled Gordon sibling has a bombshell announcement of his own.

“If you're going to have a top level basketball team, you're going to need a top level coach. So we pulled out all the stops when we were hiring this guy,” Cam says in the press conference. “I am so honored to introduce our new head coach for the L.A. Industry and part-owner, Jay Brown.”

Isla and her siblings are left dumbfounded by the shocking announcement, particularly the hiring of Jay as head coach. “Mother f—er,” Isla says to the television screen, feeling betrayed by her former colleague (and love interest).

Will there be a Running Point season 3?

A third season of Running Point has yet to be confirmed, but showrunner David Stassen alluded to its possibility at the season 2 premiere in April. Should a third season happen, he told The Hollywood Reporter that viewers could expect “more family fights, more antagonism, more double crossing, more basketball.”

“And maybe Isla walking into some glass doors again,” he added.

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