Yearly, the NBA ecosystem makes an attempt to assign some kind of asterisk to that 12 months’s champion, and 2025 shall be no completely different. This 12 months’s champion, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, will face accusations that their title is tainted by Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton tearing his achilles tendon within the first quarter of Recreation 7, however chances are high that even with that context within the sport that actually determined the sequence, it nonetheless gained’t be probably the most controversial championship in current NBA historical past.
That honor will (possible) all the time go to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, as many over time have tried to name their NBA Bubble triumph “Mickey Mouse” and dismiss it as lower than an actual championship, a stance was solely emboldened by Thunder guard (and 2020 champion) Alex Caruso saying within the aftermath of Sunday’s OKC triumph that nobody might say that he didn’t have an actual ring anymore:
Now, anybody who watches the video clip can (in all probability) inform that Caruso was simply showcasing the identical signature dry wit he’s displayed all through his profession, nevertheless it didn’t cease the comment from creating headlines throughout the web, and sparking discourse throughout social media — as evidenced by how many replies to the above tweet had been utilizing it as an excuse to dismiss the Lakers’ seventeenth title.
The following day, Caruso felt that he needed to make clear that he was joking. And in a rarity for a celeb, you possibly can inform this wasn’t a rigorously crafted assertion ghostwritten by a public relations workers, as a result of he gave simply in regards to the funniest excuse potential:
He additionally could also be underselling it, as — provided that as the one Thunder participant to have beforehand gained a title — he needed to train his younger teammates learn how to open a champagne bottle. So it stands to motive he might have had just a few sips of that as effectively, and hey, after a hard-fought, seven-game sequence victory, who might blame him?
Nonetheless, whether or not Caruso is joking or not — and as somebody who coated nearly his complete journey from G League standout to final NBA position participant, I feel it’s pretty apparent he was — it’s additionally probably not debatable that the Lakers’ championship was completely different from every other title in NBA historical past. Performed in a bubble at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic and after a multi-month layoff, it’s not even a debate that there has by no means been a championship run precisely prefer it.
However completely different doesn’t imply lesser. The playoffs weren’t going to be performed in dwelling arenas that 12 months, and even the 2021 postseason was performed in largely partially crammed stadiums attributable to well being and security protocols. There was simply no situation the place the NBA was going to close down lengthy sufficient to have a playoffs precisely like all others in historical past.
The Lakers nonetheless gained the title, although, regardless of dropping out on the homecourt benefit they’d performed arduous all 12 months for, and amidst the identical circumstances that actually each single different crew needed to face. You may say the cirumstances had been a bonus for them, however that ignores that each different crew had the identical “profit.” And if you happen to’re saying that it’s a lesser title as a result of they received relaxation earlier than the run and didn’t have accidents, you’re saying that you simply’re extra eager about who can get the very best random well being luck than who’s the very best basketball crew that performed the very best all 12 months.
Sure, the Lakers received just a few months off and didn’t should journey within the bubble, however the identical was true for all of their opponents. One might even argue that 2020 is absolutely the least gimmicky championship ever, provided that the remainder meant almost each crew was at high well being, nobody was fatigued from journey, and there have been no exterior elements like raucous dwelling crowd, fast journey turnarounds and just one crew per sport having to take care of lodge beds.
We’ll by no means know for sure if the Lakers would have gained in any other case, however the identical is true for all champions: You may solely play towards the opponents and circumstances in entrance of you. All we do know for positive now could be that Alex Caruso can win in both situation, and that perhaps the true asterisk on the 2025 title is whether or not or not the Thunder would have gained it if the Lakers and Bulls weren’t each so silly.
