Daryl Morey Furthers Bubble Ring ‘Asterisk’ Notion About LeBron James, Anthony Davis’ 2020 Title

Daryl Morey revealed that many NBA GMs believed LeBron James and co's 2020 bubble title doesn't count.

Daryl Morey Furthers Bubble Ring ‘Asterisk’ Notion About LeBron James, Anthony Davis’ 2020 Title

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Daryl Morey (FS Image)

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Many NBA fans believe that the 2019-20 NBA season should have been stopped in March itself. The fact that they elected to start it up back up in Disney World with no crowds after a break of four months does not sit right with them. To top it all off, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers – three of the most hated NBA players and teams – won it all, leaving a lot of fan bases scurring for reasons to discredit it.

It doesn’t help that in the days after their win, LeBron James insisted on calling it the toughest title of all time on many occasions. The way he talked about the environment in Disney World had a stark contrast to how other NBA players did it. Steven Adams, for instance, lightened up the air around the bubble by saying ‘This is not Syria, mate’, in a press conference with media personnel at Disney World, and stuck with it.

It seems that many front office members in the league agree with these fans on the NBA bubble. Based on what Daryl Morey said in an interview with The Athletic, GMs and executives from around the NBA, the overarching impression on them was that the break between the March league suspension and the resumption in late July invalidates the work put in by the Lakers to win the bubble championship:

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.

Whether or not Morey himself believes this is immaterial. The facts are that a large faction of the NBA fan base rejects the legitimacy of the Disney World title.

How does the lack of legitimacy in the bubble title affect LeBron James’ legacy?

One of the major reasons why people prop up the bubble championship is that it equalized the playing conditions for all teams, even though the top seeds like the Lakers, Bucks and Clippers actually lost much of the advantage that they had duly earned by being excellent throughout the regular season. It put every guy in isolation and demanded more dedication and fixated play from everyone in the playoffs.

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LeBron James (Imagn)

At the same time, the 2019-20 season was tantamount to a marathon race being stopped at the 30 km mark and resumed after an extended break. It allowed players to rejuvenate, but it also took this element of continuity away from a regular full NBA season. This difference in conditions from a regular season is what causes the asterisk in a lot of minds. Teams win championships by playing through injuries, usually.

In this light, it is important to remember that the Disney World championship that LeBron James led the Lakers to is undoubtedly not the same as a regular championship. It was not won in the same trying conditions, and there are many reasons for the average fan not to count it as one. There’s a reason why even though everyone sat at home in isolation, ratings for the 2020 NBA Finals were at an all-time low.

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