Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey explained his LeBron James, LA Lakers comments to Nick Wright.

Morey was the source of controversy when his quote seemingly downplayed the legitimacy of James’ 2020 NBA title with the Lakers. The championship was won during the COVID-19 pandemic in the NBA bubble at Disney World. 

Morey said to The Athletic, “Everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship.”

James was defended by his former teammate, but Morey has since explained that his quote was misinterpreted. 

Daryl Morey tells Nick Wright his LeBron James, LA Lakers quote was misinterpreted

Nick Wright, speaking on the What’s Wright with Nick Wright, podcast, said he had spoken to Morey. The pair have a relationship which dates back to when Morey worked for the Houston Rockets. 

Wright said that Morey defended his comments, but he felt that people were reading into them incorrectly. 

Wright said, “Let me help out my pal Daryl. I was shocked when I read this quote, because Daryl has publicly, many times, talked about how legit he finds that championship to be, and how hard it was.

“I reached out to Daryl, and not surprisingly, he explained to me what I thought was going to be the case. While he wasn’t misquoted, it is being misinterpreted.”

Wright explained that when Morey said people around the league “privately agree”, he meant with each other, not with him.

Wright continued, “The ‘privately agrees’ is what is tripping people up. He is saying that everyone he talks to agrees amongst themselves. He is the outlier that says this is an amazing accomplishment, but everybody else is saying not so much.

“I actually understand why people are confused. They are reading it as, ‘everyone privately agrees with me’, he’s saying ‘everybody privately agrees with each other’. Daryl is my pal, but he deserves to have his actual opinion out there correctly.”

The LA Lakers would have won the 2020 title regardless of the NBA bubble

As executives around the league attempt to tarnish James’ legacy, discrediting his fourth championship, it’s important that we revisit the 2020 NBA season. It’s unfair to the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and the Lakers to say that they only won the title because of the pandemic. 

James, an NBA great near the peak of his powers, was playing in his first season alongside Anthony Davis. The Lakers got off to a red-hot start that season, boasting a 52-19 record before the season was postponed.

The Lakers were the number-one seed in the NBA entering the bubble. They then went 16–5 in the playoffs, dismissing Damian Lillard’s Portland Trail Blazers, James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s Houston Rockets, and Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets all in five games. 

They met Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, winning the championship in six games. James averaged 27, 11 and nine through the playoffs and won Finals MVP.

The Lakers were the class of the NBA throughout the entire season, and showed supreme mental resilience to battle in the bubble for three months in complete isolation.

The 2020 championship is a huge addition to James’ legacy, not something to take away from it.