Though it’s nearly five years in the past, many fans are still debating the merit of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 2020 championship run. The season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the playoffs were played without fans in a bubble at Disney World.
It doesn’t matter to many people that the Lakers were the No. 1 seed in the league and coming off back-to-back wins over the Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks before the season was postponed. It hasn’t been much of a topic lately until Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey decided to bring it.
“Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required,” Morey told The Athletic. “Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its leadership at both the beginning and end of the pandemic, even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk.”
Morey was still with the Rockets at the time, a team the Lakers beat in the playoffs en route to their championship. Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Phil Handy was with the Lakers at the time, and he clapped back at Morey over the comments.
“They can talk all that (expletive) they want,” Handy wrote on X. “If you weren’t in the bubble to win it they may want to keep quiet about it. Every team came into the bubble to compete and win. If Houston would have beat us and won it I’m sure they wouldn’t be saying it wasn’t real lol.”
Morey Walks Back Comments
In Morey’s defense, he didn’t specifically say that the Lakers’ 2020 title was fraudulent. He was more relaying the sentiment around the NBA. However, he didn’t articulate that very clearly.
He spoke to ClutchPoints’ Anthony Irwin to clarify.
“I’m frustrated,” Morey said. “Of course, I respect that title. I defend it to people all the time. It’s the thing I want the most.”
Though he wishes that he had worded things differently, he understands why people would be upset with him over the comments.
“I can see why you would have taken it that way, and that would’ve made me mad too,” Morey said.
Many NBA Titles Could Have Asterisk
It’s a dangerous game for people to start saying which championships are legitimate or not. There are many titles, especially in recent years, where fans can start delegitimizing.
Even just last season, Indiana Pacers fans can argue that they would’ve won the championship had Tyrese Haliburton not torn his Achilles in Game 7. Two seasons ago, the Boston Celtics faced multiple teams in the playoffs that were missing their best players for multiple games.
Fans can keep going and going for why the wrong team won a championship every year. The Lakers were the best team in the NBA before the COVID-19 lockdown, so they had a very good chance of winning the title regardless.
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