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Current Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey went viral for a quote he gave to The Athletic about the Los Angeles Lakers' 2019-20 championship in the NBA Bubble. In that original quote, he seemed to doubt the legitimacy of the title along with many others around the league. This drew mixed reviews from NBA fans of all teams, especially those supporting the Lakers.
However, upon seeing the reaction to that quote, Morey reached out to ClutchPoints to clear the air.
“I'm frustrated,” Morey said over the phone Wednesday afternoon. “Of course, I respect that title. I defend it to people all the time. It's the thing I want the most.”
Morey's quote from The Athletic's story about the NBA Bubble championship reads as follows:
“Had the (Houston) Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required. Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship.
“Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its leadership at both the beginning and end of the pandemic, even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk.”
In that quote, it didn't seem as if Morey specifically defends the championship to those who question it. When those on social media pointed this out, it came across as bitterness from the former Houston Rockets executive.
This is especially true, seeing as the Lakers had beaten Morey's Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals.
“I can see why you would have taken it that way, and that would've made me mad too,” Morey acknowledged.
Because of COVID and the pandemic, the actual fifth anniversary of the Lakers' 2020 championship won't be celebrated until October. That season was suspended on March 11, 2020 and did not resume again until July 22 with scrimmages and an eventual sprint to the finish line at Disney World in Florida.
The Lakers, to their credit, had already looked like the best team in the NBA that season and then raced through the field in the bubble. While detractors could point to any number of unique factors, all teams played in that setting and had just as much chance at winning it when those playoffs started.
Whether critics want to acknowledge it or not, the NBA has no plans to assign an asterisk to that championship.
