Lakers' bubble championship will have an asterisk ‘forever': Daryl Morey
Daryl Morey isn't so sure about its legitimacy either.
In an interview with The Athletic, the 76ers' president of basketball operations said there are plenty of doubters who don't think it was a 'genuine championship' with the bizarre circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
'Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required,' Morey told the outlet. 'Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn't truly hold up as a genuine championship.'
President of basketball operations Daryl Morey looks on during a press conference at the Seventy Sixers Practice Facility on February 15, 2022 in Camden, New Jersey.
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Morey told the outlet that the championship may never be looked at as on the same level as a regular NBA title.
'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.'
With no fans in the stands and no travel in the Orlando bubble, LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Lakers to their 17th title in franchise history. Los Angeles defeated the Heat in six games in the Finals.
Some have posited that the veteran Lakers had an advantage over other teams inside the bubble with the aging James and injury-prone Davis.
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts with his MVP trophy and Finals trophy after winning the 2020 NBA Championship over the Miami Heat in Game Six of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on October 11, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Getty Images
The championship was particularly important for James, who was named NBA Finals MVP en route to his fourth title.
Morey's Rockets lost to the Lakers in the second round in the bubble in a season that ended up being his last in Houston.
The longtime NBA executive would step down from the Rockets in October 2020 before taking the job in Philadelphia less than a month later.
Morey's teams have made the playoffs in 14 out of 18 seasons, but he's yet to get that elusive NBA championship.
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