Of course the Lakers' 2020 win counts as a real championship
For example, in July, Bleacher Report left Kobe Bryant — the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history — off its Top 10 all-time player list. In June, when the Buss family sold the franchise to Mark Walter for a historic $10 billion, Lakers haters immediately took to social media to say which teams were worth more. Now we are in August, and every NBA TV show and podcast has a segment to address the comments Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey made to the Athletic about the Lakers' 2020 NBA championship against the Miami Heat:
'Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required.… Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn't truly hold up as a genuine championship.'
Given the historic circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic that year, to view that championship as 'less than' because teams did not travel during it and fans were not present is akin to discounting NFL championships or World Series titles won during World War II because the rosters were thinner because of enlistments.
Morey suggested that victory should come with an asterisk as if the playoffs during a once-in-a-century global pandemic were not as challenging as in typical years. Different dynamic, yes — but easier? He has since walked his comments back, but you know what they say about genies and bottles. Besides, it's not as if he's alone in his Lakers disrespect. There are plenty of fans and former players who are quick to point out what the team did not do in that postseason because they don't appreciate what that championship required.
Beginning with courage.
It's been nearly five years since the Lakers won title No. 17 inside the $200-million logistics behemoth referred to as the Bubble, so maybe some of us forgot the details. Infectious disease experts, the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, the league office, the players' union, ESPN and many other corporations all came together during a time when we had far more questions about COVID than answers.
From when NBA play stopped in March 2020 to when play inside the Bubble began that July, the country had lost more than 140,000 people to the disease. When bubble play ended in October, it was above 206,000, and many cities were running out of places to store the dead.
Far too often we forget that fame and fortune do not protect a person from problems or heartache. We forget that being a professional athlete does not protect you from the rest of the shared human experience. All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns lost his mother to COVID that April and seven other relatives over the course of the pandemic. Towns, who turns 30 in November, was himself hospitalized in early 2021 because of the virus.
You're not supposed to put an asterisk on a sports championship won during the worst of times. You're supposed to use an exclamation point to honor the mental and emotional dexterity it took. The months of isolation — away from family and friends, away from the routines that made them the athletes they are. Daily testing to guarantee the safety of other players as well as coaches and administrative staff. And while not having to travel to a hostile arena nullified the 'road game' in the playoffs, it also took away 'home court' from a Lakers team that had the best record in the Western Conference. A team that had just beat the other two title favorites — the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers — less than a week before the world shut down.
One day, Morey is going to look back on his comments about the Lakers title in the Bubble with shame. Not because he's wrong in reporting the disrespect others in the league have expressed but because he chose to give that rhetoric oxygen. Morey and others have long had such jealousy of the Lakers, but this was the summer they turned petty.
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