NBA Twitter has always been a mess of a place, with fans spewing plenty of unresearched and ill-advised takes regarding the sport we all love. One take that never seems to vanish in social media circles is the notion that the championship LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers won in the bubble should come with an asterisk on it given the special conditions brought forth by playing basketball during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some fans on Twitter call the championship they won a “Mickey Mouse ring”, saying that it pales in comparison to a championship won under “normal” circumstances. But Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard wants to shut that talk down for good.

Speaking on the Back on Figg podcast on YouTube, the Blazers floor general said that in his book, the Lakers' championship counts as much as other championships do.

“I think it counts to me. Why don't it count? Nobody else won it. Everybody else had the same opportunity to win it, so why didn't they win it?” Lillard said.

Damian Lillard then pointed out that the players were rested during the bubble, since they had a three-plus-month layoff before returning to action; this then makes the Lakers' championship win even more difficult given the more even playing ground.

“The physical part, everybody was fresh. That's why you see dudes hooping like that, ‘coz there was nothing else [to do]. That will make it harder to win it all,” Lillard added.

It's insane to think that the upcoming season will be the fourth following that fateful bubble campaign in Orlando. Time has flown by in a flash. Perhaps in due time, the 2020 Lakers will get the recognition they deserve from casual fans.