Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy from inside the bubble in Orlando, there has been an ongoing debate about the validity of the 2020 NBA Championship.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Lakers over a determined Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat in six games to win that ring, but some have tried to downplay the accomplishment.
In fairness, much of that has come from those who weren’t there, as they point to the time off allowing for an older Lakers roster to get healthy. But many who were present inside the bubble at Walt Disney World have said the exact opposite, calling it an extremely difficult championship to win, and now Adebayo can be added to that list.
The Heat’s All-Star center made an appearance on “The OG’s Show” with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller and called the Lakers 2020 championship the most difficult to win:
Bam says the NBA Bubble was the “hardest” championship to win 😳
Tap the link for episode two of @theOGsShow featuring Bam Adebayo 👀 https://t.co/sltjQGojGm pic.twitter.com/5UK2FTm7c9
— Playmaker (@playmaker) December 27, 2023
Adebayo repeated what many others have also said about how being inside the bubble was extremely isolating. Not having family around for the most part, simply just being there with your teammates was a very different experience and it forced teams to really have the right mindset in order to succeed.
Thankfully for the Lakers, they were able to do just that with the leadership of LeBron and Davis ensuring that the squad remained locked in mentally throughout the ordeal. And the Lakers blitzed through the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets before seeing Miami in the Finals.
The Heat made it tough as Butler gave everything he had and Adebayo fought through injury to try and battle in the paint, but ultimately the best team prevailed and the Lakers brought home another championship.
Some can still try and downplay the Lakers’ accomplishment, but when practically all the players who were there speak to how difficult it was, it’s time to stop trying to lessen the Lakers’ most recent championship.
LeBron James: injuries preventing Lakers from competing against top teams
When it comes to the current season the Lakers haven’t been quite as good as they want to be. There have been flashes, but the Lakers haven’t been consistent and James feels the Lakers’ health struggles have prevented them from being amongst the NBA’s true championship contenders.
“I think the league’s best teams right now, so far, Minnesota [Timberwolves], they’re pretty much healthy. OKC was pretty much healthy besides [Josh] Giddey. And Boston is fully healthy. I don’t think we’re healthy right now,” James said.
“And I don’t think we’re where we want to be to compete versus the top teams until we continue to get better and better keep and continue to work on our habits. And for us, we’re still trying to figure our situation out as far as how we want to continue to attack each game. But we’ll be better.”
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