What Daryl Morey got wrong about Lakers’ bubble title

Here’s the reality of that Orlando bubble: no travel, no home-crowd advantage, players isolated for months, constant testing and heavy pressure to meet bio-bubble protocols. 

And yet the Lakers still managed to dominate. LeBron James averaged 27.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the Finals at age 35. Anthony Davis was elite on both ends. They didn’t coast — they crushed.

In what felt like psychological warfare, teams like the Los Angeles Clippers wilted, the Milwaukee Bucks never recovered form and most contenders cracked under the emotional isolation. The Lakers? They thrived. They turned a surreal setting into a platform for greatness.

It’s worth noting that each team played under identical conditions. No fans, no refereeing bias, no inconsistent travel routines — just basketball. 

And guess what: The Lakers were the best team in the league before the season paused. They carried the third-best record into the shutdown, and by the time the bubble Finals came around, they looked like champions without the usual external distractions slowing them down.

If Morey believes the bubble removed legitimacy, he’s essentially arguing that championships only count under “normal” seasons — which ignores the weight of adversity athletes and teams overcame in Orlando. It’s like saying Olympic gold doesn’t matter because the Games were moved. That doesn’t minimize athletes’ efforts — it neglects them.

Yes, the bubble was different — but “different” isn’t the same as “fake.” It was the most controlled, neutral and mentally demanding postseason in history. To call it anything less than earned is to discredit the grit and focus required to win under those conditions.

If Morey and his circle want to invoke an asterisk here, fine. But maybe the asterisk should read, "Won after living inside an emotional pressure cooker in the middle of a global pandemic — and still came out on top."

Some will look at those Lakers as beneficiaries of rest and routine. That’s fair, but only if you ignore the point that everyone got the same rest and routine. The Lakers were simply the ones who unmasked the bubble and came out smarter, tougher and more connected.

So yeah, Morey’s entitled to his take. But the rest of us shouldn’t bargain away 2020 as a “lesser title.” In fact, if anything, it was harder to win than most. And it deserves the respect of real championships everywhere.