Daryl Morey Says Lakers’ 2020 Bubble Title Deserves Asterisk

Five years ago, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers captured the 2020 NBA championship under the most unusual circumstances the league has ever seen.

The entire postseason was played inside the NBA’s Orlando bubble, a controlled environment set up at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Players, coaches, staff — they all lived and worked at the Disney campus, unable to leave until their teams were eliminated. It was isolated, grueling, and for many, emotionally draining. But it also ended with James leading the Lakers to the franchise’s 17th title.

Now, with some distance between then and now, that championship is once again back in the spotlight.

In a story published Wednesday by The Athletic, veteran NBA writer Joe Vardon revisited the bubble experience, interviewing players, coaches, and executives who lived through it. One of them was former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who is currently running basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers. And let’s just say Morey didn’t hold back.

“Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required,” Morey said. “Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship.”

Morey added that while the league showed impressive leadership in navigating the early stages of the pandemic, the bubble championship will always come with an asterisk.

That’s a strong take, and one not universally shared.

Others quoted in the same story pushed back, arguing that winning in the bubble may have been even harder than usual. No fans, no travel, no momentum shifts. Just basketball, isolation, and mental toughness.

James, of course, was at the center of it all. The Lakers beat the Heat in six games to secure the title. At the time, some credited the bubble with leveling the playing field. Others saw it as a pure test of focus and resilience.

But Morey clearly doesn’t see it that way. And while he may not be the only one, plenty of voices inside and outside the league will tell you the opposite.

So, five years later, the debate still lingers. Was the bubble championship the hardest of all? Or just the strangest?

Like most things in NBA discourse, it depends on who you ask.