Over five years later, Daryl Morey still is not over the 2020 NBA season. Not because of the pandemic or the challenges of the bubble, but because the Los Angeles Lakers were able to walk away with the Larry O’Brien trophy, and the Houston Rockets did not.
In an interview with The Athletic, Morey said, “Everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship."
Morey added, "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.”
That is not really objective criticism. That is someone trying to rewrite a chapter where he did not come out on top. What makes it worse is that quote directly follows a statement he made where he flat-out contradicts himself.
Lakers' 2020 NBA championship holds no asterisk
In the same interview, Morey said, “Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required."
So, the effort only counts if it ends in a parade for your team? That is total nonsense. You can’t acknowledge how difficult the circumstances were and then turn around and slap an asterisk on the team that actually thrived under them.
It is time to stop pretending the bubble made things easier for teams to win. In fact, it was the opposite.
It was one of the most mentally and emotionally grueling environments the league has ever seen. Players were isolated, routines were gone, families were far away, and the entire world outside was in crisis.
On top of that, the Lakers had to deal with even harsher circumstances. At the time they were also trying to navigate through the emotional weight of Kobe Bryant’s passing. The pressure the Lakers carried was not just competitive; it was personal, and yet they still delivered.
Kobe Bryant was killed Sunday in a helicopter crash, as first reported by TMZ and confirmed by @wojespn.
— ESPN (@espn) January 26, 2020
He was 41. pic.twitter.com/jt4ccu2Rw4
The truth is, Morey had a team in the bubble too. A team that people thought could make noise. The Lakers shut that noise down in five games. It is hard to ignore the jealousy behind comments like these. It is even harder to ignore how often the league stays quiet while this title gets talked down.
Here is the reality that Morey needs to understand: You do not get to control how history remembers you. You earn your place in it. The 2020 Lakers did just that.
The point is no quote (especially one from Morey), no matter how well-worded or passive-aggressive, is going to change that. So honestly, keep the asterisk talk; the Lakers have 17 actual reasons not to care.
That number will hopefully be 18 after this season, with Luka Doncic now in charge of the squad and LeBron James rumored to at least stay one more year.