Yes Lebron’s Bubble Championship Counts

Recently I heard a guest on talk radio disparage Lebron’s and his Lakers’ championship which they won in the shortened “bubble” season of 2020. That season was the result of the Covid pandemic. I’ve also seen memes online which have the same message, which essentially, is that it doesn’t count or it doesn’t count as much.

Now, I like to pile on Lebron like anyone else. There are many reasons to make fun of the guy. He posts unhinged tweets and gives crappy interviews that make it easy to hate him. In fact, we even posted an article all about that fact called Why Is LeBron James Hated by So Many NBA Fans? I suggest checking that article out as it lays out all the many reasons that Lebron is possibly the most-hated player in the NBA.

With all that said, I would like to argue against the widely-held belief that the bubble championship some how doesn’t count or even counts less than other championships.

 

Bubble Re-Cap

The bubble season was the 2019-2020 NBA season. The NBA shelled out $190M to host the post-season at one location, away from the general public. That location was at an arena owned by Disney right outside of Orlando. Players were sequestered at the location and could only eat, sleep and play on the premises. Apparently, the $190M investment was worth it as the NBA was able to prevent $1.5B in losses.

The bubble came about as a solution after the season was suspended on March 11, 2020 due to the outbreak of the pandemic. It should be mentioned that most of the NBA regular season had been played at this time and that 8 teams were already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

In June, eligible teams were invited to the location to duke it out in order to crown the 2019-2020 NBA champion. After three exhibition games were played, the competition was resumed. 8 “regular season” games were played to establish the seeding of the playoffs. This resulted in a regular season in which 72 games were played, down from the 82 games of a normal season.

 

The Case for the Lakers

Plenty of Games

72 regular season games is plenty of games to decide which teams are fit to be in the playoffs. Like we said, it’s just ten fewer games than a true regular season. There have been proponents over the years suggesting that the NBA season should be shortened anyway. They say that the season is much too long and this would help teams with “load management”. I cannot say that I disagree with this idea all that much.

Fair Tournament

The neutral-site tournament concept is no different than college tournaments. Teams from all over the nation meet in one location to decide the winner. Whether it be regular season, conference or the NCAA tournament, the concept is the same. No single team has a home-court advantage in this scenario. In fact, the NBA’s bubble may have been even more fair as it was not single-elimination.

Location

Florida was chosen for a few reasons. The state was a little more lax on its Covid restrictions when compared to other states. Disney had the accommodations to handle the task at hand. In fact, they benefitted from it greatly as themes park traffic was severely limited because of the pandemic.

The home state advantage that may have helped the Orlando Magic did not manifest itself in any meaningful way. They were routed 4 games to 1 in the opening round of the playoffs in August of that year.

Competition

The Lakers cruised their way through the playoffs against four good teams. They beat the Portland Trailblazers (4-1), the Houston Rockets (4-1), the Denver Nuggets (4-1) and finally the Miami Heat (4-2). The Lakers went a combined 16-5 in the post-season. They were dominant.

Other Sports Count Shortened Seasons the Same

The most common reason we have seen teams play shortened or augmented seasons has been due to strike. The 1982 NFL season, for example, was crippled by a player strike. Yet, the playoffs and Super Bowl were still played. The Washington Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins 27-17. Both teams count this season as a Super Bowl appearance, and for Washington, a Super Bowl win (their third). The team has the trophy behind glass at their facility and the players wear the ring. Learn more about this Super Bowl here

 

The Case Against the Lakers

Detractors to this championship say that it shouldn’t count because it was played at Disney World. Others say that it doesn’t count because of the bubble itself. Famed NBA coach George Karl took to Twitter to say as much. He even said: “Lakers fans always hype their championships. But the truth is they all happened pre ABA merger and as a direct result of 4 icons (Magic, KAJ, Kobe and Shaq). In the last 15 seasons, the Denver Nuggets have the same number of rings as the Lakers!**’20 bubble rings don’t count”. See more here

It’s pretty obvious that Karl is suffering from a heavy swallow of haterade. He has also had a reputation for being somewhat of a loose canon on Twitter in recent years. Still, plenty others in sports media and beyond will claim ’til their dying day that the bubble season doesn’t count. Yet, I have not seen any good argument or compelling evidence to change my opinion that it does.

 

– Scott C. Morris
SBA Staff Writer