Lakers: Mayor Eric Garcetti sees no sports in LA until 2021
Lakers News: Los Angeles city major Eric Garcetti states that sporting events might not happen in the city during 2020.
The latest Lakers News is disheartening. The NBA season, along with many other professional sports seasons, has come to a screeching halt with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lakers were in the midst of their best season since the early 2010s on the backs of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, seemingly poised to make a deep run in the playoffs. They may have even been title favorites before the season was suspended indefinitely in mid-March.
The fantastic run of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2019-2020 season brought a sense of optimism to the fan base that honestly has not been seen since Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol led the Lakers to the 2009 and 2010 NBA titles.
It’s truly sad that in all likelihood, the Lakers’ efforts this season will go by the wayside. However, the most important thing to remember is that this pandemic is bigger than sports.
Los Angeles is one of the biggest cities in the world, but somehow is staying afloat during this pandemic. The state of California has done an excellent job with social distancing initiatives at the direction of Governor Gavin Newsom despite having such a large population.
Despite this optimism and ‘flattening of the curve’ another California politician believes that no sports will be played in Los Angeles until 2021. That man is Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti.
Garcetti is the type to err on the side of caution typically so this comes as no surprise. However, this does not provide much hope going forward. We are barely in the middle of April and politicians are already practically counting out a ‘normal’ return to sports for the next seven and a half months. It’s a crazy time to be alive right now, obviously.
Garcetti explicitly stated the following via email with the Los Angeles Times:
"“Large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events may not be approved in the city [Los Angeles] for at least one year.”"
Gov. Newsom also echoed that same sentiment a few days prior:
"“The prospect of mass gatherings is negligible at best until we get to herd immunity and we get to a vaccine.”"
This does not provide much hope, but we can only hope that they are wrong. This means no Lakers basketball — at least in the city of Los Angeles — for a long time in all likelihood.
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As I mentioned before, the pandemic is bigger than sports and bigger than basketball. Still, as fans, who doesn’t want to see the Lakers again this year in the midst of a fantastic run? Who knows, maybe we will see Bron to AD lobs sooner than expected. One can only hope that this Lakers news turns out not to be.