The 2019-20 season was a memorable one in the NBA. Of course, that was the year a global pandemic interrupted everything in March of that season and forced the league to put everything on pause as everybody considered their next move around what was going on in the world at that time.
The league then resumed on July 30 with the bubble concept at the Wide World of Sports complex, a Disney World property in Orlando, FL. The Philadelphia 76ers continued their season in the bubble as they were hoping to go deep into the postseason led by Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Al Horford, but Simmons suffered a season ending injury and the Sixers were swept out of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics.
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The Los Angeles Lakers went on to defeat the Miami Heat to win the 2020 championship, but there has been a lot of talk about that championship. Should it have an asterisk? There were no crowds. There was no travel as everything was done inside the bubble. There wasn’t the usual types of adversity that come with winning a title.
The Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets along the way–who at the time were led by GM Daryl Morey–and the current Sixers President of Basketball Operations gave his take on their championship while talking with The Athletic:
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. 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.
One could also argue that the 2020 championship is one of the toughest to win. Despite staying at a Disney resort in tropical Florida, there was a lot going on in the outside world that weighed heavily on all of the players. It can be hard to focus on basketball for any player when considering what was going on back home in terms of the health of their families and such. Morey has his opinion, and one can say it’s valid as it is backed up by people he’s talked to around the league, but another opinion is that the Lakers winning in 2020 was one of the toughest titles ever.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers’ Daryl Morey gives his take on Lakers’ 2020 bubble championship