Ever since LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2020 NBA Championship inside the Orlando bubble, there have been a contingent of people who have questioned the legitimacy of the ring. Many felt that the Lakers benefitted from the time off in between when the season was postponed and the beginning of the bubble among and feel that season’s championship was easier to win.
Despite every player who has spoken about the bubble claiming that it was easily the most difficult situation to play in, some people feel the way they feel. But Davis is tired of those ideas and had some words for those doubters.
Davis made an appearance on D’Angelo Russell’s The Backyard Podcast and spoke on his belief that the Lakers would have won the 2020 Championship whether the bubble happened or not:
We are livehttps://t.co/PlE5B5XyCx pic.twitter.com/0SaKYLIhAQ
— The Backyard Podcast (@The_BackyardPod) February 7, 2024
At the time the season was postponed due to coronavirus (COVID-19), the Lakers were a Western Conference best 49-14 with a six-game cushion in the loss column over the second-place Los Angeles Clippers. While the Milwaukee Bucks had a better record, the Lakers had just defeated them and the Clippers in back-to-back games the weekend prior and were the betting favorites at the time of the shutdown.
Add in the fact that every other team had that same time off to rest up and the Lakers dealt with all of the same challenges everyone else did and Davis is right to be annoyed at so many trying to discredit their ring. The Lakers were the only team to handle everything the way it needed to be handled and that’s why they were successful in hoisting up the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of it all.
It is also forgotten that the Lakers went on a tear to start the following season and would have been prime for a repeat before injuries completely destroyed them with so little time off in between the end of the bubble season and the start of the next. But Davis, and surely everyone else on that 2020 Championship team, are tired of the disrespect and rightfully so.
Anthony Davis discusses what Lakers legend Kobe Bryant meant to him as a mentor
That 2020 Lakers team also had to deal with the unfortunate death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and were able to come together and gain motivation from that awful tragedy. But Davis and Kobe had a relationship well before he joined the Lakers and that meant a lot to the big man.
Davis discussed his relationship with Bryant as both a big brother and mentor, noting that he started his professional career alongside Kobe as a member of the 2012 Men’s National Team. The Lakers star added that it will be an emotional moment to see Kobe Bryant’s statue be revealed.
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